Patricio Freire reveals serious injury suffered in UFC 327 loss

Patricio Freire faced some struggles early in his fight against Aaron Pico at UFC 327.

Freire (37-9 MMA, 1-2 UFC) lost by unanimous decision to fellow ex-Bellator Pico (14-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in last Saturday’s preliminary round at the Kaseya Center in Miami.

Advertisement

Pico did a good job mixing his grappling and boxing, which left “Pitbull” frustrated and scarred. Freire revealed that Pico ended up causing serious damage to the right side of his face and he was not able to see properly after the first round.

“Congratulations to my opponent, he was well trained and very fast,” Freire said in a video on “X”. “Some people in the media were saying I did well in the first round, but my performance dropped off sharply from the first to the second round. It turned out I took a free kick straight to the eye with my eye wide open, a jab sequence and a straight right, and it ended up fracturing my orbital bone here (right side) and this side of my nose.

“It compromised my vision from the start of the second round, so all I could do was try to protect myself from the incoming blows. Of course, I tried to attack too, but with very little success. I was hit with a hail of blows throughout the second round. And anyone seeing could tell that this old man still has a bit of chin here, that I can take a few blows. Unfortunately, that’s all I could do given the state I was in I was.”

Former two-division Bellator champion Freire is now 1-2 inside the octagon. After losing to Yair Rodriguez in his debut at UFC 314, the 38-year-old bounced back with a win over Dan Ige at UFC 318 before losing to Pico.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Patricio Freire Reveals Serious Injuries Suffered in UFC 327 Defeat