Bellator 209: Pitbull vs. Sanchez - Picks and Predictions
This Thursday marks Bellator’s third trip to Tel Aviv, Israel, as the Scott Coker-headed promotion is set to put on Bellator 208: Pitbull vs. Sanchez. It’s a rare occasion that sees Bellator head to somewhere that the UFC hasn’t actually been before.
While the show isn’t one of Bellator’s ‘tentpole’ events, it does feature a Bellator Featherweight title fight between champion Patricio Freire and challenger Emmanuel Sanchez, and names like Phil Davis, Ryan Couture and Cindy Dandois pad out the card.
As always with a Bellator show, the prelim card isn’t much to talk about – with one big exception, but we’ll get to that later.
Here are the predicted outcomes for Bellator’s latest offering.
#1 Patricio Freire vs. Emmanuel Sanchez
Better known as one half of the ‘Pitbull Brothers’, Patricio Freire has been a staple inside the Bellator cage since 2010. With an overall record of 27-4 and a Bellator record of 13-4, the Brazilian striker can probably count himself as one of the best fighters to never set foot inside the UFC at this stage.
A two-time Bellator Featherweight champion, Freire bounced back from a loss at 155lbs to Benson Henderson to defeat Daniel Straus in 2017, reclaiming the Featherweight title he lost to Straus in 2015 in the process.
He now faces off with Sanchez, who has slowly climbed the Bellator ranks since he debuted there in 2014. The Duke Roufus-trained grappler has reeled off 4 straight wins since a split decision loss to Daniel Weichel, and his last fight saw him tap out UFC veteran Sam Sicilia with a unique standing arm triangle choke.
Sanchez is an excellent grappler – as the Sicilia win, as well as a submission over former champion Straus in the fight before proved, but he might well be in over his head against ‘Pitbull’. Freire is one of the most well-rounded and dangerous fighters to ever set foot inside the Bellator cage – of his 27 wins, 10 have come by knockout and 10 have come by submission.
Despite his current hot run, Sanchez was pressed hard by the likes of Justin Lawrence, Daniel Pineda and Georgi Karakhanyan. No offense to those fighters, but they’re simply not in the same league as ‘Pitbull’. Sanchez could pull off an early submission but it simply doesn’t seem likely against a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt the calibre of Freire.
Sanchez might push Freire early on but expect him to be overwhelmed in the later rounds.
The Pick: Freire via fourth round TKO