Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire believes judging favors Americans, cost him titles

Patricio Freire has two losses in his career – both by split decision, and both in Bellator title fights.

Split decisions, by nature, are more often than not going to be controversial with each fighter typically believing he did enough to get the nod. In "Pitbull" Freire's case, he believes in his two losses, he not only did enough, but that being Brazilian didn't work in his favor.

"Both losses were against world champions, and both by split decision," Freire told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I believe if the judges were Brazilian, I would have been awarded the win in both occasions. Nowadays, MMA rules and judging favor the American style of fighting. My last fight was very balanced. Either one of us could have won it. I am going back to try again."

And so Freire (17-2 MMA, 5-2 BFC) will try again later this fall when he meets Diego Nunes in the opening round of Bellator's latest featherweight tournament. He lost to Joe Warren in the Season 2 tournament final, and Warren became the champ. He then won the Season 4 tournament to get a shot at new champ Pat Curran in January, only to come out on the short end again.

"If you watch the end of the fight, before the judges' decision, Curran was hanging his head low," Freire said. "He even looked a bit surprised when he heard his own name."

Freire isn't necessarily saying there was home cooking in the Warren and Curran fights. Instead, he believes it's just a simple matter of judges being raised to look for different things.

And he might be a textbook case of the old MMA adage "Don't leave it in the hands of the judges."

"The sport originated in Brazil, but was popularized in the United States," he said. "I do think the rules favor American fighters. It's automatically assumed that if you get the takedown, if you're on top, you're winning. But sometimes, the fighter on the bottom is the one threatening his opponent, by trying armlocks, triangles, Americanas, guillotines, or something like that. The fighter on the bottom can come very close to finishing the fight, but judges will award points to the fighter on top. The person who is actually engaging in combat should be winning the round.

"The scoring system is very wrong. That's why when a jiu-jitsu fighter constantly threatens from the bottom, and his opponent simply stays on top, escaping submissions, it results in a guaranteed loss. That has to change."

But that won't change before Freire's next fight, and it probably won't change before he meets Nunes this fall, either. On Wednesday, he takes on Jared Downing (9-2 MMA, 2-0 BFC) at Bellator 97, which takes place at Albuquerque's Santa Ana Center. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

Downing takes the fight on less than three weeks' notice after Freire's original opponent, Rob Emerson, fell off with an injury. The fight amounts to stay-busy work for "Pitbull," since the fight he's really concerned with starts this fall – his road back to what he hopes is another tournament win and a shot at the title again.

And this time, he says he won't have to worry about split decisions or what non-Brazilian judges will think.

"My goal now is to finish my opponents as quickly as possible," he said.

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/07/patricio-pitbull-freire-believes-judging-favors-americans-cost-him-titles

I think he beat Warren but I think curran beat him.

He and his brother are great fighters and young their boxing needs tightening but overall some of my favorite fights in bellator is with them.

I completely agree when a Guy is on top just defending and the man on the bottom is going for FINISHING manuevers dude on bottom is winning.

The judges are starting to open up to this more as was seen at the last ufc this past weekend with the ladies fight on the Prelims it was the supposed Anderson Silva of wmma vs I can't remember but Mrs Silva LOL won even though she was taken down repeatedly but the chick who did it was unable to even get out of guard.

I just wish a real JUDGING CRITERIA was established or better yet qualified fucking judges.

Explaining situations in the fight that may occur and how you should score it

For example if a fighter gets a takedown but doesn't establish a base before opponent gets back up the takedown is nullified and wont be counted.

If a fighter takes an opponent down establishes a base but does not go for fight ending strikes or submissions the fighter will be stood up after lets say 10 seconds.( this ones for the refs)

If a fighter takes an opponent down remains in a dominant or top position but is constantly defending submissions the fighter on the bottom will be credited just as much or more for going fir finishes over a dominant position.

sounds like more brazilian excuses imo

both guys beat him