Last night Bellator continued to wrap up their 4th season of tournament fights with an exciting card in Atlantic City. Michael Chandler improved his record to 8-0 when he faced Patricky Freire (9-2). Chandler kept Freire at bay excelling in the mental aspect of the fight, taking it where Freire never thought it would be. The mental edge was key as well as the occasional yet unintentional kicks to the lower section of Freire to slow the beast.
In round one Chandler stayed standing and circled well trying to wear down his opponent using lots of kicks and movement knowing a takedown would be stuffed while Freire was in his prime. He pressed the action and stole a close first round. In the open of the second both fighters were all out throwing bombs and flying knees and kicks. The action was brought to a halt when Chandler landed a huge knee to the growing and the second bad shot of the night dropping Freire instantly. After the second low blow you could see the look of pain on Freire’s face obviously affected by the shots, and he returned to the fight losing his offensive pressure while just trying to counter. Chandler continued to snap his jab while eating lead lefts from Freire as both fighters were landing effectively. By the middle of the second round both fighters were bleeding from the mouth and seemed to be losing steam fast. Chandler scored a late takedown with a minute left, and began grinding and using ground and pound on the fatigued fighter. It appeared Chandler was now up two rounds, so Freire needed a finish to win the fight.
In the beginning of the third a point was taken from chandler for the third low blow kick to the cup. Only one fighter (Chandler) was brought to the neutral corner while Nogueira preached strategy to his prodigy waiting to return to the fight. As the round went on the wrestler held his kicks back knowing he needed to work on accuracy and he landed a nice set of takedowns pretty much sealing the deal. In the final minute chandler poured on the pain trying to finish him off but the tough Freire held on to last to the bell.
It was a great fight marred by fouls, but Chandler proved he’ll be another nice test to Alvarez and the Bellator lightweight title when the grinding grappler with explosive striking looks to shock the world.
