Darrion Caldwell was not happy that Patricio Freire did not pick him to fight in the Selection Show following Bellator 228. Instead, the featherweight champion decided to fight Pedro Carvalho, leaving Caldwell matched up with Adam Borics on the other side of the bracket.
Following the event, Darrion Caldwell went to Patricio Freire’s locker room and confronted the champ about not picking him. The entire encounter was caught by Bellator.
The exchanging of words between @TheWolfMMA and @PatricioPitbull went beyond the cage at #Bellator228.
Go behind the scenes and see what else transpired between the two Featherweights now.#FeatherweightWGP pic.twitter.com/G8bG0DlUlK
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) October 2, 2019
“I actually think it played out exactly how I thought it would, where Patricio would back out of a tough fight against me, myself, A.J. [McKee], and [Adam] Borics. He doesn’t want to fight us three,” Darrion Caldwell said to Bellator when asked about the confrontation. “These are the three fights he’s shying away from. I think he was strategic. I’m going to show up every night and make it happen.”
Caldwell told ‘Pitbull’ he is a b***h for not choosing to fight him and saying he is scared to fight him. The two then continued to trade words until A.J. McKee finally walked by and separated the two of them.
In the quarter-finals of the featherweight grand prix, Darrion Caldwell will take on Adam Borics in January. To advance to the quarterfinals, the former bantamweight champion edged out a decision win over Henry Corrales to snap his two-fight losing streak. He lost his last two fights to Kyoji Horiguchi for the RIZIN title and lost to Bellator title.
Patricio Freire beat Juan Archuleta by unanimous decision to advance to the quarters and will now fight Carvalho in March. ‘Pitbull’ also defended his featherweight title with the win and remains Bellator’s featherweight and lightweight champion.
There is no question Darrion Caldwell and Patricio Freire do not like each other. But, the only way the two will fight each other in the tournament is if they both make it to the finals.
What do you make of Darrion Caldwell confronting Patricio Freire backstage after Bellator 228?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/3/2019.