Patricio Freire has taken one step closer to making a Pedro Carvalho rebooking come to fruition.

The Bellator lightweight and featherweight champion Freire (30-4 MMA, 18-4 BMMA) recently acquired a new work visa on an emergency basis, permitting him to travel to the United States. With help from Bellator, Freire’s team members also acquired the necessary documentation to come into the country.

“It’s not that Bellator kept booking and postponing, it was that the conversations led to, ‘Possibly this month; possibly that month.’ But they never gave an official date because they were working through all those travel situations,” Freire recently told MMA Junkie. “I already have my visa in hand. (In late August), I went there and got everyone approved to enter the U.S. now. Now we just need to wait for Bellator to book the fight.”

The Bellator featherweight grand prix, which includes the Freire vs. Carvalho quarterfinal bout, does not have a return date on the books, though Freire seemed to think late 2020 is a safe bet. As soon as Bellator sends out bout contracts, Freire says he’ll put his name on the dotted line – regardless of when and where.

“The sooner, the better,” Freire said. “Two weeks from now, I’ll be ready to go. This fight has been delayed for a long time. I don’t know what is the hold up anymore. I know they have to promote this. If I could fight right now, all they had to tell me to do was jump on the plane. But it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen that way. It seems like it’s going to happen more toward the end of the year. I wish I was done with this so Pedro didn’t have more time to talk crap. He’s been in the spotlight for way too much time already.”

Despite the elongated training camp and time to plan, Freire doesn’t think Carvalho will benefit. Freire said he thinks Father Time has just delayed the inevitable.

“Pedro is talking a lot of (expletive) as if I’m running away from him,” Freire said. “He should be glad that he was saved from the beating last time. They gave him a few more months so he could toughen up a little bit more and not feeling the beating as much. It’s not going to change anything. If he thinks having more time has prepared him for me, he couldn’t be more wrong. It’s going to be a long night for him or a short one. I don’t think he’ll be able to handle me.”