Report – Patricky Pitbull vs. Peter Queally rescheduled for Bellator 258 on May 8th.

Queally
Mandatory Credit: David Fitzgerald – Sportsfile

A lightweight reworking between veteran former Bellator lightweight championship challenger, Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire and two-fight promotional veteran, Peter ‘The Showstopper’ Queally has been booked for Bellator 258 on May 8th. — from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. 

Initially slated to headline a Bellator Dublin event last October, the pairing and the entire event was shelved amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Queally also returns for the first time since suffering a broken hand after the cancellation of the showcase.

A thirty-two fight professional veteran, Mossoro native, Freire last featured at Rizin 20 back in December of 2019 — dropping a unanimous decision loss to Tofiq Musayev in the Rizin lightweight Grand Prix finale. 

For Queally, the Waterford native makes his first outing since Bellator 227 back in September of 2019 at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland — where he rallied to score a Knockout of the Year contender against Ryan Scope — notching his first promotional victory. News of the reworked matchup was first reported by MMA Fighting reporter, Guilherme Cruz.

23-9 as a professional, Freire, the elder brother of two-weight Bellator champion, Patricio Freire has competed for the undisputed lightweight championship on one occasion, as well as featuring in the lightweight tournament finale on two separate occasions. 

The 35-year-old knockout ace, is also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, having lodged an eye-catching fifteen separate knockout victories. In notable career wins, the Brazilian has scored triumphs over the likes of Toby Imada, Kurt Pellegrino, David Rickels, Derek Campos (x2), Saad Awad, Josh Thomson, Benson Henderson, Roger Huerta, common-foe, Scope, and Tatsuya Kawajiri. 

Straight Blast Gym mainstay, Queally, will attempt to move to 2-1 as a Bellator lightweight, following a close split decision defeat to former teammate, Myles Price on his organizational bow back in February of 2019 at Bellator 217.

An alum of Fight Nights Global, Cage Legacy Fighting Championship, Cage Warriors, and BAMMA, the storied Queally has secured notable career victories over the likes of Konrad Iwanowski, Francois Kabulu, Nathan Jones, Decky Dalton, Igor Egorov, and David Khachatryan. 

Queally was slated to take co-main event honours against former lightweight champion, Brent Primus at Bellator 240 in February of last year, with an injury forcing his withdrawal. Chris Bungard ultimately met with Primus on short-notice, dropping a submission loss.