Bellator MMA

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire moves up to lightweight, meets Benson Henderson in August

Former Bellator featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire is moving up to the lightweight division to meet former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson in the main event of the Bellator 160 on August 26 in Anaheim, California

The fight booking was reported by the LA Times on Saturday.

Freire (25-3) is coming off a submission win against Henry Corrales at Bellator 153 and it was his first fight since losing the Bellator featherweight title against Daniel Straus. He has won eight of his last nine fights and a win against Henderson will likely set up a lightweight title fight against Michael Chandler. Henderson (23-6) lost his Bellator debut in April against welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov and this will be his first fight at lightweight since his 2014 defeat against Rafael dos Anjos. He is 2-3 in his last five fights and two of those defeats have come by decision.

Tickets for this Bellator fight card will go on sale next week and more information on the event is expected to be announced shortly by the promotion.