Bellator 178 "Straus vs. Pitbull 4" comes to Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Apr. 21, 2017. As you might have surmised from that title, featherweight champion Daniel Straus will have his first fight back in over a year, and his fourth fight with former champion Patricio Freire.
Here's how we got to that point.
Their first meeting was at Bellator 45 in the Season Four tournament finals, with the winner expected to face then-champion Joe Warren. "Pitbull" was able to take that fight via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 X2).
The Brazilian's bout with Warren didn't happen as Freire was sidelined for almost two years. Pat Curran won the title in the interim, and successfully defended it against Freire at Bellator 85.
Straus and Freire would make each other's acquaintance again at Bellator 132 just under four years later, in what would be Freire's second defense of the title he had finally won. A wild brawl with multiple fouls ensued, but ultimately Freire prevailed in the fourth round via rear naked choke.
Bellator was so impressed that it seemed almost certain they would give Straus one more chance to beat Freire, and although Straus finally prevailed at Bellator 145 later that year, he broke his hand in the process.
It's hard to resist the temptation for them to run it back one more time now that Straus is healed, and at the "Fedor vs. Mitrione" pre-fight press conference earlier this week (watch here), Bellator officially announced the date and the venue.
JUST ANNOUNCED! @DanielStraus vs @PatricioPitbull 4!
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) February 17, 2017
Featherweight World Title!
APRIL 21st | @MoheganSun | @spike pic.twitter.com/WplDVXNxjd
At press time no other matches have been announced for this card.
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