Kurt Pellegrino retires after losing to Patricky Freire at Bellator 59 – MMA News
For the 32-year old American mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Kurt Pellegrino, it was the end of his career on November 26, 2011. The event was the Bellator 59 produced by the Bellator Fighting Championship, held in New Jersey.
Pellegrino was looking to fight for his career as he entered the right against his opponent, Brazilian MMA fighter Patricky Freire.
Pellegrino has been on a losing run since 2010. In July 2010, he lost the bout at UFC 116 against Australian MMA fighter George Sotiropoulos in the third round through a unanimous decision. In march 2011, Pellegrino lost against
Brazilian MMA fighter Gleison Tibau at UFC 128. On November 26, 2011, it was Pellegrino’s third straight loss in his career.
Although he had scored four straight wins from September 2008 to March 2010, but losing three fights in a row was something he got concerned with. Pellegrino was making his debut at the Bellator Fighting Championship at Bellator
59 but the start with a new MMA promotion company was not good. He lost to Patricky Freire, which meant he needs to rethink his future. It is true that Pellegrino had some fight left in him and he could have went on to fight for a couple of more years, but
that was not how Pellegrino was thinking once he was unsuccessful at Bellator 59.
In a post-match conference at Bellator 59, Pellegrino said, “This isn’t the way I wanted it to end…It’s just getting hard. I missed my daughter’s first words because of me fighting. That’s something I always think about…When I
tell you I did everything right, I did everything right." Although Pellegrino clearly expressed his decision to leave his MMA career, the CEO of Bellator Fighting Championship, Bjorn Rebney thought that maybe Pellegrino may have the strength to compete in
one more fight.
Pellegrino, nicknamed Batman, has been victorious over Mac Danzig, Josh Neer, Rob Emerson and Thiago Tavares, all of them MMA veterans in their own regard. Pellegrino made his UFC debut in July 2006 against Drew Fickett, which
Pellegrino won through a submission. This is not the first time that Pellegrino has announced his retirement. Earlier this year in March 2011 when he lost to Gleison Tibau, Pellagino had announced his leaving the MMA.
He did came back to fight in Bellator but a loss at Bellator 59 meant Pellagrino should hang his gloves for good. Pellegrino was able to survive the first wave of onslaught at Bellator 59 but when Freire got him down and started
a series of punches, it was a technical knockout TKO, which ended the bout and his career.
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