Dire Strategy From ‘Pitbull’
Patricio Freire spoke to MMAFighting.com ahead of Saturday’s pay-per-view. “Pitbull” expressed his belief that he allowed outside distractions to hinder him prior to his UFC debut.
“I was very distracted,” Pitbull said. “I think the camp had some interferences from personal situations so I decided to isolate myself and leave it all for later. Kind of a pause from social life and problems, mainly.”
Freire made the decision to isolate himself from family members in an effort to get back on track and prove that he’s still a viable competitor.
“I can’t lose. That’s the reason,” Pitbull said. “Anything that took my focus away, even for a few minutes, I decided to leave behind. My oldest son comes here and visits me, and that’s because he already trains and behaves himself. The younger one, I meet him a few times during the week with his mother, but only for a few moments. When it’s time to train, rest, lunch, I’m isolated. I don’t have access to part of my family. The great motivation is not to lose the next fight.
“I debuted in the UFC, an organization that we’ve aimed to be part of for many years, and there was a great expectation around that,” he continued. “Yair Rodriguez is not a random guy, he’s a top 5, he was an interim champion before and was going to fight [Alexander] Volkanovski again. It won’t be possible because he’s having surgery. But anyway, that’s for myself. I didn’t like to debut with a loss. It sadly happened. What I can do now is look ahead and take my next step. My next step is this fight, and me doing what’s in my hands. To shield myself from information from outside the camp, let’s put it this way. Everything that gets to me is filtered.”
We’ll see what ultimately plays out on Saturday. If you’re in need of some fight night coverage, BJPenn.com will have what you’re looking. You can count on us for live results, video highlights, and key post-fight tidbits. Visit our homepage this weekend for UFC 318 coverage.
