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Emmanuel Sanchez thinks winning the Bellator featherweight grand prix will separate him from the pack at 145 pounds.

Sanchez rematches champion Patricio Freire April 2 in the main event of Bellator 255 in Uncasville, Conn., in a featherweight grand prix semifinal clash.

If Sanchez (20-4 MMA, 12-3 BMMA) is able to avenge his lone loss in almost four years, that would propel him into the tournament final, where he’ll face undefeated prospect A.J. McKee.

With wins over Tywan Claxton and Daniel Weichel to advance to the tournament’s semifinals, Sanchez thinks adding Freire (31-4 MMA, 19-4 BMMA), who knocked out Michael Chandler to become lightweight champion, as well as unbeaten McKee, would undoubtedly make him the No. 1 featherweight in the sport.

“After I beat Patricio ‘Pitbull’ and then go on to defeat A.J. McKee, yes – and there won’t be any need for me to go out and talk about other big names across the pond or across the world,” Sanchez told reporters at a media availability following Bellator’s Tuesday news conference.

“There’s great fighters all over the world, but being a home-grown, developed Bellator featherweight world grand prix champion, knowing that I won the grand prix getting revenge on those who have beat me before and those who have never tasted defeat before, you can’t write a better story. So I believe that would cement my status as the best featherweight in the world.”

In their first outing, Sanchez pressured Freire from the opening bell, using effective leg kicks to slow the champion down. Freire was able to mark up Sanchez’s face with the harder shots, but he was unable to put him away. “El Matador” won a couple of rounds, but ultimately, Freire outpointed him for a unanimous decision win.

Having gone five rounds with the champion, Sanchez took a lot away from that loss – most notably, that he was able to take Freire’s best shots without going down.

“Patricio is a great fighter. He’s accomplished so much and done so much in Bellator and fought the best of the best throughout this run, and he taught me a very valuable lesson the first time,” Sanchez said. “I’m very excited to show to the world what he taught me in this second run, and I’m excited to go out there and take him out because I showed the first time that it’s possible – and I know I can go out there and make that happen.”

“With all that power, I would have thought he hit harder and for being such a great, dominant champion, I thought he’d be a lot harder to hit, too. So knowing obviously what I know now of being in the ring with him, and since being around all these great fighters in this grand prix, having this opportunity to be cageside watching his last three fights, actually … I still see those holes.