Patricky Freire and Peter Queally will finally collide inside the Bellator cage on May 7, multiple people with knowledge of the news told MMA Fighting. Bellator 258 will take place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and air live on Showtime.
Freire (23-9) and Queally (12-5-1) were first scheduled to fight in October 2020 in Dublin, Ireland, but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Pitbull” will be making his return to the Bellator cage after a short run under the RIZIN banner in 2019, when he represented the U.S.-based promotion in a lightweight grand prix. Freire scored fast knockouts over Tatsuya Kawajiri and Luiz Gustavo before losing the tournament final to Tofiq Musayev.
Freire won his last five in Bellator, including victories over MMA veterans Ben Henderson, Roger Huerta and Derek Campos, and is aiming to secure another shot at the lightweight gold if his brother Patricio Freire, a two-division king in Bellator, vacates the belt.
SBG Ireland’s Queally competed twice in Bellator, bouncing from a split decision defeat to Myles Price in his debut with a second-round knockout over Ryan Scope in September 2019.
