Even before his knockout win over Josh Thomson, Patricky Freire had spoken about his interest in meeting Benson Henderson.

Freire is quite familiar with his Bellator 183 opponent for a few reasons. Not only is Henderson (24-7 MMA, 1-2 BMMA) a widely known former UFC and WEC titleholder, as well as a two-time Bellator title challenger, he’s also faced Patricky’s (17-8 MMA, 10-7 BMMA) brother, current featherweight champion Patricio Freire.

Patricio lost their Bellator 160 bout via TKO after an injury caused him to forfeit. But that same day, Patricky told MMAjunkie, Patricio said his brother would be a bad matchup for Henderson.

Needless to say, when Bellator told Patricky he was being removed from a Bellator 181 headliner with Derek Campos to meet Henderson at Bellator 183 instead, he wasn’t particularly upset.

“It’s a better opponent,” Freire told MMAjunkie ahead of Saturday’s lightweight headliner, which takes place at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., and airs on Spike. “Benson Henderson has a great name. I am very happy to be back in San Jose, where I had a great victory in my last fight over another great opponent who was fighting at home.”

Patricky Freire. (Courtesy photo: Bellator)

Unlike what happened in his “four or five” most recent bouts, including a failed title bid against Michael Chandler, Freire has actually had more than 30 days to prepare for Henderson. Not to mention there are some advantages to having a shared opponent with your brother – using the same sparring partners, for instance.

But having some knowledge of Henderson’s style by no means has Freire feeling complacent. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

“Without a doubt, he’s a very difficult opponent,” Freire said. “He’s a hard nut to crack. He’s very difficult to submit or knock out, but it’s not impossible. There’s no such thing as a fighter who can’t be knocked out. He keeps fighting until the very last moment.

“It will be a test. I can hardly wait. I’ve been thinking a lot about how it’s going to play out. I know I’ll have to be very well prepared since he’s so hard to beat.”

On Saturday, though, the momentum will be on Freire’s side.

Henderson carries a 1-2 Bellator record into the outing – the win over Patricio sits sandwiched between an unsuccessful welterweight title bid against Andrey Koreshkov and a failed attempt at taking then-champ Chandler’s 155-pound title. Benson later revealed he’d been dealing with knee injuries all along – which have been surgically repaired.

Freire, in turn, has beaten three of his past four opponents, capped off by the Bellator 172 knockout of Thomson. That one, however, didn’t come without some level of controversy – at least for Thomson, who unsuccessfully appealed the outcome with the California State Athletic Commission because of a head-butt.

On his end, Freire believes it’s any fighter’s right to appeal should they feel in any way wronged. But he’s so confident in his win that he’ll even rematch Thomson if need be.

“I don’t think anything unjust happened, nor did anything happen as he claims,” Freire said. “He claimed he was groggy and tried to alert the referee, but none of that happened. It bothers me. He tried to erase my victory over him, claiming something that didn’t take place.

“Justice was done. The result was not overturned. I’m glad. And, as I told him, if he wants another shot at me, he need only ask.”

First things first, though. Freire has quite the task ahead of him with Henderson. Confident that he grows from these types of challenges, Freire dares to look a little further.

“I plan to always improve and evolve, so I can reach the top, which is the belt,” Freire said. “No fighter will say he or she doesn’t want the belt. I want my chance, and I don’t wish to waste it.”

For more on Bellator 183, visit the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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