Is Self-Control the Same as Freedom?

From Tim's sermon on 5/30/2010: "Self-Control"

1 Corinthians 9:23-27: "I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Tim's Explanation:

In the list [of fruits of the spirit] in Galatians 5:22-23, it's called self-control. That same Greek word occurs here [in 1 Cor. 9]. It's a little bit hidden by our translation, because the translation says, in verse 25, everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. And literally, that's just a way the translators paraphrased or rendered a phrase that literally says, “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.” That's what Paul said and the word for self-control is the same word he uses in Galatians 5, it's the word egkrateia, which means ego, self; krateia, command. Self-control is self-command. And actually, it's a synonym for being free, because if you're not self-controlled, you're out of control and if you're out of control, then you're slave to some other forces.
So to be free and to be self-controlled is the same thing and Paul is using this illustration of the athlete preparing for a game (to compete in a game) to get across the biblical understanding of self-control. Now, we need this because we are not in control. We have trouble controlling our tongues, we have trouble controlling our thoughts, we have trouble controlling our feelings, our impulses, let alone all the millions of addictions that we can also develop like addictions having to do with drink or drugs or sex or spending or gambling or eating disorders or rage.

My Question: Is self-control really the same as freedom? It seems to me that Biblical self-control is taking a new master, i.e. a new set of constraints. Maybe a more nuanced explanation holds that it's impossible to be truly free, so the best we can do is choose the constraints that allow us to live a good/Godly life. Framed that way, it's much better to be a slave to virtue and God, rather than sin, which leads to death.