Patricio Freire picks Paddy Pimblett to beat ex-rival Michael Chandler at UFC 314

Patricio Freire is not backing his former rival to get his hand raised at UFC 314.

Michael Chandler (23-9 MMA, 2-4 UFC) meets Paddy Pimblett (22-3 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in a five-round co-main event April 12 at Kaseya Center in Miami (ESPN+ pay-per-view). Freire, who dethroned Chandler to become Bellator lightweight champion by first-round TKO in May 2019, picked Pimblett to win the fight.

“It looks like Paddy Pimblett is in the better moment of his career, and he’s going to win that fight,” Freire told Middle Easy. “I know he’s very confident, and I think he’s going to win the fight.”

Chandler is not interested in reigniting his feud with Freire, but “Pitbull” doesn’t echo his same sentiment.

“Yes, I can do that many times,” Freire said when asked about fighting Chandler again.

Freire (36-7 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will also compete at UFC 314 when he makes his octagon debut against former interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez (16-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC). The pair were briefly headlining the prelims, but are currently slated on the main card.

Freire admits he was surprised with their initial billing.

“Yeah, it was weird that they made those changes,” Freire said. “He was a former interim champion. We were the third-to-last fight on the card. Then they made those changes. But it doesn’t change anything to me. I’m just going to go in there and do my job.”