Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Title Reigns

8. Patricio Freire

Bellator MMA Featherweight Champion, 2017-2021

Bellator MMA's greatest fighter ever is also the only fighter to make this list based entirely on work done outside of the UFC. Freire is an amazing three-time Bellator featherweight champion, but his second stint was his greatest and most memorable, occurring in his absolute prime. I've written glowingly about Freire before, noting that he is an excellent striker and an outstanding grappler, but his most amazing quality is his unmatched intelligence and discipline, exploiting even the smallest opponent weakness and implementing the most complex gameplans perfectly for 25 straight minutes. His title reign began when exacted revenge against Daniel Straus, whom he had lost his crown to in 2015, by guillotine choke in the second round. This also gave Freire the clear win in his tetralogy with Straus, having scored three wins, two of them stoppages, in their four fights.

Freire then proceeded to defend the title in dominant fashion five times, in-between knocking out Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler in just 61 seconds to become a two-division champ. The first defense was against highly skilled contender Daniel Weichel, and despite one lousy scorecard that inexplicably had it for the challenger, Freire clearly prevailed. The rest was even more lopsided; he defeated Emmanuel Sanchez twice, once by decision with a knockdown in the final round, and another with a brutal club-and-sub in the first round, knocked out Pedro Carvalho in the first round, and beat future Bellator bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta from pillar to post for 25 minutes. Freire's title reign ended after a sensational head kick and submission by undefeated phenom A.J. McKee, which appeared to signal a changing of the guard. As we learned though, Freire was far from done winning championship gold, triumphing in a rematch in a very close decision. But while Freire's magnificent career continues even with him recently turning 36, his second stint with the Bellator featherweight title is the crown jewel of his championship reigns.

Continue Reading » Number 7