It may not have been pretty, but Patricky Freire found the revenge he was looking for on Saturday night at Bellator 183. In a grinding affair, Freire defeated former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson via split decision, narrowly outpointing the American a little over a year after Henderson defeated Freire’s younger brother, Patricio, inside the Bellator cage.
The fight was an altogether uneventful one, as Freire (18-8) and Henderson (24-8) spent large chunks of each round either trading potshots from range or stuck in a clinch battle against the fence. Freire defended every one of Henderson’s takedowns, and even scored one of his own in the closing moments of the second frame.