The vacant Bellator lightweight title will be on the line in the co-main event of Bellator 157 later this month as Patricky “Pitbull” Freire meets former Bellator champion Michael Chandler and the Brazilian lightweight would like to see additional drug testing take place for this fight.
Patricky mentioned wanting additional testing done by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) in a tweet on Thursday and following his tweet, he explained to The MMA Report why he would like to see out-of-competition drug tests ordered for his upcoming fight against Chandler.
“A fan of Chandler called me a ‘juiced up Brazilian’ on Twitter,” Patricky stated. “So that’s why I proposed out-of-competition testing. There are lots of talks about Americans with all sorts of doctors and technology at their disposal in the big gyms, and when it’s left without testing it could lead up to a huge disadvantage. Not that it exactly matters to me, I know I’m going to win it even if they suddenly decide to allow PEDs even though I don’t use any. But as Chandler replied ‘You know it’ to him, probably agreeing with the guy’s fight prediction, but the way he replied it’s like he acknowledged the whole sentence. I felt the need to reply and propose it.”
“I know there weren’t tests by the commission both times Patricio [Pitbull] fought there and it was something we have talked about, specially seeing Chandler’s physical development,” he continued. “But in the end, we decided to not talk about it. As far as I’m concerned, he could become the Hulk on fight time, I’ll still finish him. But as he seemed to agree with the guy on Twitter, I decided to talk about it.”
Bellator 157 will be taking place from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri and will be regulated by the Missouri Office of Athletics. This will be the third Bellator fight card in St. Louis and Patricio confirmed that he has not drug tested for both of his title fights at Bellator 138 and Bellator 145.
“No one was tested both times I fought there,” Patricio told The MMA Report. “I think the commission wants us to be safe and there must have been a reason for that. I don’t know how things work. But Chandler basically called my brother a roider, so I thought it’d be good to have it out there so everyone can be sure we play fair and I expect that so does Chandler. I believe all athletes should be tested. I don’t know if my opponents used something, I can only talk about myself. But so there’s no doubt both athletes should also be tested, specially when there’s a world title involved.”
“I know Bellator has the best interest of the fighters involved,” he continued. “If we take a medicine that’s allowed they still are in on it because they want to make sure, they ask us to consult with them so that we don’t end up taking something prohibited. So hopefully things will only grow from here. Bellator doesn’t deserve backlash and I know the commission must’ve had some issue that prevented the tests, but I’m positive they want what’s best for the sport and our safety.”
At Bellator 145, Pitbull lost the Bellator featherweight title to Daniel Straus in their trilogy bout. Straus won the fight by unanimous decision and just like Pitbull, he competed on the Bellator 138 event as well. I asked Straus about drug testing for the Bellator events in St. Louis and he gave the following statement.
“I’ve been drug tested everyone of my fights except two that I remember,” Straus told The MMA Report. “Let’s make one thing VERY CLEAR, I have never taken a banned substance or plan to. Don’t need to and don’t think about others that do. I’ve never been a cheat and don’t need to be accused of s**t like that in my career.”
Following Patricio’s comments about no drug testing for his fights in Missouri, The MMA Report reached out to Missouri Office of Athletics Director Tim Luckenhoff and I received a statement from Yaryna Klimchak of the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions & Professional Registration issue.
“Information about drug testing of athletes is closed information pursuant to section 324.001.8, RSMo,” the statement said. “If an athletics licensee is disciplined as a result of a failed drug test, that discipline document (settlement agreement or order) would be a public record available upon request from the Office of Athletics.”