Just mere hours before one of sport’s pound-for-pound greats was set to make his promotional debut, Bellator MMA’s best laid plans went horribly awry.
Matt Mitrione’s losing bout with kidney stones forced the cancellation of the originally planned Bellator 172 headliner, delaying the stateside return of Fedor Emelianenko and likely doing serious damage to the big ratings anticipated by Viacom, Spike and promotion officials.
Even without a big-ticket main event, the show must go on, and Patricky Freire made sure it was an entertaining show indeed. The older “Pitbull” brother became just the second person to knock out Josh Thomson, finishing “The Punk” with an uppercut and follow-up hammerfists 40 seconds into the second frame of their featured lightweight encounter at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.