NEW ORLEANS – Despite Patricio Freire being an unranked UFC featherweight, Dan Ige sees him as a big fight.
Ige (19-9 MMA, 11-8 UFC) meets former two-division Bellator champion Patricio Freire (36-8 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 318 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main card at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
Ige explains that he’s been wanting to fight “Pitbull” for a while.
“Actually, before he even signed, (I was asking to fight him). There were talks about him signing, and I texted the UFC right away. I was like, ‘I want this fight,'” Ige said during Wednesday’s media day. “He got the Yair (Rodriguez) fight, I got the (Sean) Woodson fight, and eventually it played out the way it did because we’re fighting this weekend.
“‘Pitbull’ has been a guy I’ve been watching for a long time, probably for over a decade. I’ve been a fan of his. I love his fighting style – one of the best to ever do it. He fell short in his debut, but take nothing away, I still believe he’s one of the best featherweights in the world – definitely in my opinion top five. So this is a big fight for me.”
Freire said he plans on being the first to finish Ige, but Ige thinks he’ll be the one to get the knockout.
“Twenty guys in the UFC have said that, so that’s not a new thing for me to hear,” Ige said. “How do I see myself winning is another spectacular finish by knockout.”
