Adam Borics and Patricio Freire squared off at Bellator 286 for the Bellator featherweight title
The main event of Bellator 286 came out rather slow considering what the co-main event was, and fans were instantly turning on the champion Patricio Freire and challenger Adam Borics. The fight was a slow start, with the biggest move coming from Borics with a flying knee. Freire was able to evade and took control, taking Borics down. After Borics returned to his feet, Freire threw his own at Borics but missed as well.
The second round didn’t see as much pace-pushing, instead exchanging a lot of smaller strikes. Mostly jabs and leg kicks.
In round three, Borics tried to start off with throwing strikes but Freire was able to take Borics down to the mat and begin a steady stream of ground and pound. Borics was able to stand up with Freire on his back, and after walking around a bit, Borics is able to get him off his back and clinched against the cage. After a brief exchange of knees, the round comes to an end.
Borics and Freire exchanged a lot of single shots in round four, slowing the pace way down. Borics was able to land a lot of leg kicks but he didn’t string anything together and after clearly not doing much damage in the first three rounds, that was not the way to get round four started.
Borics strung together a few combinations, moving Freire back but the lack of activity has all but secured the fight for Freire, barring any big moves by Borics. Freire eventually landed another backpack attempted on Borics, rendering Borics unable to do anything of merit. Borics was able to get a big takedown off the backpack attempt, though he was unable to get anything going.
The featherweight division is a mess
Borics shouldn’t get another title shot for a while, as his effort was truly disappointing. Freire now has no real challenger for his throne. Former champ AJ McKee is lined up to compete in the BellatorLightweight Grand Prix, and Aaron Pico, the No. 3 ranked in the division, just lost a fight by injury stoppage to Jeremy Kennedy. Pedro Carvalho is the next in line who has won recently, but he’s 2-3 in his last five fights.
Even Freire pointed out that Pico was the next obvious fight, only for his injury to derail that likelihood.
The rest of the division is filled with guys who don’t have the name value to warrant a shot at the moment. The best outing for Freire may be to see him drop to 135 and fight Sergio Pettis or have someone from 135, like Patchy Mix, come up to fight Freire.
Josh Thomson on the commentary desk after the fight suggested Freire go down to fight for the bantamweight title, and that may be the best call.
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