Opportune Timing

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The biggest opportunities do not always come when one expects them in the sport of mixed martial arts. Such was the case for Daniel Weichel, who will challenge Patricio Freire for the Bellator MMA featherweight championship in the Bellator 138 “Unfinished Business” co-main event on Friday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Weichel accepted the fight on roughly six weeks’ notice, as he replaced the injured Georgi Karakhanyan.

A former M-1 Global champion, Weichel stayed in the gym following his split decision victory over Pat Curran on Feb. 13 and kept himself ready in case Bellator called.

“Camp is going great,” he told Sherdog.com. “Even if it’s just five or six weeks’ notice, I’ve been training since the Curran fight. After the Curran fight, I took a week off and then a lot of my training partners had fights coming up, so I’d been training and helping them get ready. Also, we just brought [Gesias] ‘JZ’ Cavalcante [in] to prepare the past couple of weeks. I love to train and I love the sport, so I’ve been training the whole year.”

The Freire-Weichel title fight serves as the primary support for the main event featuring Ultimate Fighting Championship hall of famer Ken Shamrock and Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson.

Weichel, 30, enters the championship bout on a seven-fight winning streak that dates back to September 2012 and includes four victories inside the Bellator cage. In a 10-week span in 2014, he tapped Scott Cleve with a rear-naked choke, picked up a unanimous decision over Matt Bessette and submitted Desmond Green with a second-round rear-naked choke to win the Bellator Season 10 featherweight tournament. In his most recent outing against Curran, Weichel used punching combinations and leg kicks to eke out a split verdict against the former Bellator titleholder. While punches and kicks carried “The Weasel” past Curran, he remains best known for his ground game. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, he has 21 submissions among his 35 professional MMA victories.

Prior to his hot streak, Weichel routinely took fights on short notice or above his natural weight class of 145 pounds. That inconsistency resulted in bouts in divisions as high as welterweight and led to losses to veterans such as Paul Daley, Dan Hardy, Jason Jones and Thiago Tavares.

“There are a lot of reasons why I’ve done so well lately, but one of the biggest is that 145 is my weight class,” said Weichel, who has not lost since he submitted to a Musa Khamanaev heel hook three years ago. “I feel like I have more power at 145 than I did at 155, and my conditioning is better.”

Weichel believes putting down roots at Team MMA Spirit was the best decision he could have made for his career. Recent results seem to back up his belief.

“The team I’m training with is so professional and they take good care of me,” he said. “It’s why I’ve been able to be so successful the past couple of years. My team, my coaches and having my friends around me has allowed me to get the best out of me.”

Weichel will need his best to dethrone the 27-year-old Freire, who has suffered only two losses, both by split decision, in his 25-fight career. “Pitbull” captured the Bellator featherweight crown in September, when he took a unanimous decision from Curran. He then defended the title in January, submitting ex-champion Daniel Straus with a fourth-round rear-naked choke. Weichel knows he will have his hands full with Friere, who has delivered 17 of his 23 wins by knockout, technical knockout or submission and has beaten the aforementioned Karakhanyan, Wilson Reis (twice), Diego Nunes, Justin Wilcox and Gleristone Santos. The Brazilian owns a stellar 11-2 record in Bellator.

“He’s a very well-rounded guy,” Weichel said. “He’s a short, explosive fighter. He’s tough, but I don’t try to focus too much on my opponent, though. I study them, but my coaches are the ones analyzing what he’ll be trying to do. I try more to focus on myself, and that gives me more energy for the fight and gets more out of me.”

Weichel, who has won 12 of his past 13 fights, feels the time has come for him to claim Bellator gold.

“This is a big opportunity for me,” said Weichel, who has been fighting professionally since 2002. “I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life and this is my big chance. I know I’m going to take home the belt when I step in the cage on [Friday]. With my team around me and when I step in the cage, I’ll be at 100 percent confidence-wise. I’m going to get in there and do my thing. I’m going to stay sharp, stay focused and there’s nothing he can do to me.”