The co-main event of Bellator 141 will be a key lightweight bout between former lightweight tournament finalist as Saad Awad looks for his fourth win in a row when he meets Patricky “Pitbull” Freire.
While Bellator has not come out and stated what is on the line with this fight, current lightweight champion Will Brooks tweeted on Thursday that he is “begging Scott Coker and Rich Chou to make Awad vs. Pitbull a chance for a title fight.”
Awad (18-6) is currently riding a three fight winning streak and is 1-1 against Brooks. His win against Brooks came in 2013 and is the fourth fastest victory in Bellator lightweight division history. While fans may be looking ahead at a potential trilogy bout between these two fighters, Awad’s mind is only thinking about the task that is in front of him, which is to defeat Pitbull tonight.
When it comes to the task at hand, he knows the type of fighter he is facing tonight. While we all remember the specular knockout wins for Pitbull inside the Bellator cage, Awad knows he is much more than a striker.
“I believe he is a black belt and if you notice, he rarely gets submitted,” Awad told The MMA Report. “He doesn’t really put himself in bad positions on the ground. People don’t pay attention to that. When he fought Marcin Held, Held was all over him and he got himself out of some pretty bad positions. He is pretty tricky on the ground, which that is what is under rated about him and people don’t pay attention to. He does have knockout power so I have to watch him all around.”
We all know that a fighter is not going to give away his game plan in an interview. However, Awad did give insight into his fight tonight and what he believes will be a key for him to walk away with the victory.
“For this fight, patience is definitely going to be a key because everyone knows Pitbull’s style,” he explained. “He does get better, but his fights are always the same. He waits, waits, waits. Then throw big bombs and then he keep throwing big bombs until he puts you away or he will wait, wait, wait. Throw big bombs. Wait, wait, wait. Throw big bombs. So I am not going to rush anything. I am not going to try to rush anything. I always say that and a lot as soon as I get hit, I will go, go, go. I kind of do the same thing that he does. I am going to try to be patient in this fight, but I can’t tell you exactly what is going to happen.”
A victory tonight could lead to a title shot for Awad. He plans to let his fighting do the talking for him and is planning to make a statement with this fight.
“If the knockout comes, which is something I favor and everyone knows that,” Awad said. “I am going to take it, but I am not going to rush it. I tried rushing it in the last couple of fights and I got clipped in the beginning, so I had to sit back and coast through the fights. I am not going to rush it. If it comes, it comes and if it doesn’t, I am going to beat him every round. He is not going to beat me in one round. I can guarantee he is not going to beat me in one round.