UFC vs Bellator? Jose Aldo & Patricio Freire Ponder Fighting
UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and his Bellator counterpart Patricio Freire hosted a rather unique interview today. Tatame Magaine printed the piece, and it was bizarre to say the least. The bottom line is that it seems the two are very interested in fighting each other. At a tine when the UFC is pretty much dwarfing Bellator, this is a somewhat cool idea.
Check out the best parts of the ‘UFC vs Bellator’ interview below, courtesy of MMAFighting.com:
“It would be a great fight,” Aldo said. “We’re both aggressive fighters, we’re the best featherweights in the world. The champions, the titleholders. It would be a great fight, no doubt about it.”
“I see (the featherweights at Bellator) at the same level today. Bellator is the second-biggest promotion in the world today,” Aldo said. “Here in the UFC, we have more names because (the promotion) is older than Bellator. (Bellator) is growing now, but already has tough fighters too. Bellator is not far behind. The different is that the UFC is on the road for a long time.”
Patricio Freire
“I think I’m the only guy that can do a close fight with you,” Freire said. “We know that Chad Mendes also did, but I think I can do better and maybe bring the win to my team. But, of course, I know that you would hurt me a lot, but I will also hurt you [laughs].
“I think that MMA would win a lot with this fight. If this fight doesn’t happen, it would be a huge loss for the sport. It would be like Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao never happening. It’s going to be a war, for sure.”
“I know you’re the toughest fighter I would ever fight in my life,” he said. “You’re a complete fighter, with almost no holes in the game, but I can see some small details where I can go in. I know you also see details in my game that you can work on, but it would be an aggressive fight with a lot of heart and soul. The sport is a war to see who wants it more.”
It’s also worth noting that Freire recently told MMAJunkie.com that Bellator needs to be respected the same way the UFC is, and their fighters recognized more too.
“Show the sport of MMA some respect. Everyone said the WEC guys would take beatings in the UFC; now they are the top fighters. Why do you think it can’t happen with us? Same thing happened with Strikeforce. And people said PRIDE guys were the best, but the UFC guys had success. It’s about the fighter, not where they fight, and high-level competition is everywhere – in some places more than others, but there are elites everywhere. There’s WSOF, ONE FC, etc. If you doubt some of the guys I beat in Bellator, check the other top-10’s opponents. If it was so absolute, the rankings would never change. New signings would never win in the UFC and so on.”
Perhaps during this time of turmoil for the world’s largest MMA organization, fighters are started to use their voices more. Sure, Aldo and Freire are using a calculated method to set up the fight, but their explanation of how it would help all of MMA seems logical.
Would you like to see a UFC vs Bellator type show go down, and what effect would it have if one promotion cleaned the other’s best champions out?
