Outside Source
Eric Albarracin (second from right) has enjoyed plenty of memorable moments with Patricio Freire. | PFL MMA/Bellator
Known for being an excellent promoter of his athletes’ fights, wrestling coach Eric Albarracin has been more restrained when discussing Patricio Freire‘s third Octagon appearance against Belgian debutant Losene Keita at UFC Paris.
“It will be a duel of double champions, with only one champion,” Albarracin told Sherdog.com. “‘The ‘Black Panther’ is incredibly tough, explosive, a monster in fact, but he’s never faced an opponent at Patricio’s level. In the end, ‘Pitbull’ will be the one to drain Pantera’s blood.”
According to the wrestling coach, Freire’s camp wasn’t very long, but they had enough time to hone some grappling techniques against the Belgian.
“He only stopped for a week after his victory against Dan Ige,” Albaracin said. “We had a four-week camp. Patricio took Ige down five times, but this Saturday I think Patricio will only need one. Some may think he will be a steppingstone to Keita, but in reality, he [Keita] will be stepping on a landmine.”
Coach Wants ‘Pitbull’ to Face High-Profile Opponent Next
If Freire wins, Albarracin has three potential opponents in mind.
“In the first fight, he fought Yair [Rodriguez], whom no one wanted, on five weeks’ notice. In the second, he faced the people’s champion, Dan Ige. Now we’re fighting a two-time champion who’s just making his UFC debut,” Albarracin said. “I think it’s fair that after Patricio has faced all these challenges in five months, he should face someone who has already fought for the title or is undefeated. I see three names with these characteristics in the Top 10: [Brian] Ortega, Aljamain [Sterling], or Movsar [Evloev]. And after we get past one of these three, we’ll return to the million-dollar bet against Volkanovski.”
The man known as Captain America then ended the interview with one of his catchphrases, playing off the nicknames of the UFC Paris combatants.
“Next Saturday, no Wakanda. It’ll be ‘Pitbull’ forever,” he said.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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