Fighter Playlist: Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire

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It’s been over a month since Patricky "Pitbull" Freire left his home in Natal, Brazil, for the United States. The elder half of Bellator Fighting Championships’ fast-rising “Pitbull Brothers” might be feeling a little homesick, but aside from the stray tweet about how he wishes he could hug his wife and daughter, you won’t hear him complaining. As Freire says, “it’s all for a good cause.”

After gaining entrance to Bellator’s fourth-season lightweight tournament final with a vicious knockout of Toby Imada on April 2 in Uncasville, Conn., Freire headed west. The hard-hitting 155-pounder posted up at the brand new Black House Team Nogueira gym in San Diego, where he’s trained for his May 14 final against unbeaten wrestler Michael Chandler.

Freire says the training he’s received stateside has really gotten his attention, particularly that of coach and sparring partner Gary Padilla. Others assisting the “Pitbull” in his preparation include wrestler-turned-fighter Jay Bogan, once-beaten lightweight prospect Saul Almeida, plus one other constant companion.

Six-thousand miles from home, Freire not only trains, but also passes time with his younger sibling -- two-time Bellator featherweight tournament finalist Patricio “Pitbull” Freire -- by watching the fights and highlight reels of others on YouTube.

With Patricky churning out a veritable hit parade of knockouts himself, we asked for a list of some of his favorite tracks to train, walk out and get hype to.

“Bate Pesadao” -- Pregador Luo
“Basically, the title means ‘Hits Pretty Hard.’ I think it’s self-explanatory why I like this song [laughs].”

“Apaga, Mas Não Bate” (“Go to Sleep, but Don’t Tap”) -- Apocalipse 16
“It talks about going until the end, not giving up. That’s the mentality I have every time I go to fight: to put everything on the line and look for the win until the last second.”

“Eye of the Tiger” -- Survivor
“I liked this song way before I had any idea of what it was saying. When I looked at the translation of the lyrics, I was even more excited. The whole part about surviving, having the eye of the tiger... From start to finish, it’s simply perfect. That’s why I chose this as my walk-out song for the final. It gives you motivation by simply listening to it, and even more when you realize what it’s all about.”

“From the Inside” -- Linkin Park
“I have no idea what this song is saying. I didn’t look over the lyrics yet. I heard this song in an Ernesto Hoost highlight and no idea of the title. My friend who’s translating now found it for me. The reason I like this song is because it already starts with a strong rhythm and it keeps like that until the end. It’s great for training.”

“So Far Away” -- Staind
“This was Patricio’s walk-out song in his fight against Wilson Reis. We hear it all the time at the Nogueiras’ gym in Rio. We always watch boxing highlights, too, and we saw it in a Miguel Cotto one. The rhythm, the lyrics -- everything’s great in this song.”

“Hero” -- Nickelback
“I still don’t know the lyrics of this song, only what ‘hero’ means, but I like it.”

50 Cent -- no particular song
“I like to hear rap, American and Brazilian, and he’s one of the rappers I hear most from the U.S.”