'Future King' Patricio Pitbull announces his arrival to the UFC featherweight division.
UFC featherweights beware, Bellator's greatest fighter has found a new home.
It's been a long road for Patricio "Pitbull" Freire, the former two-division champion closing the book on a 30-fight run in Bellator MMA last year. After notching his ninth title defense over Jeremy Kennedy, Pitbull asked the PFL for his release, blowing up Bellator's new owners until they let him out of contract.
Fortunately for Pitbull, they did, which led to the Brazilian fighter making a play for the UFC. It's now or never for the 37-year-old, given the fact that the promotion doesn't sign many fighters 35 and over.
Though, the UFC has made exceptions for Bellator stars in the past, like Michael Chandler debuting at 35 or Michael "Venom" Page at 36, Pitbull's legacy landing him a Top 5 fight right out of the gate.
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On Wednesday, UFC CEO Dana White announced they had signed Pitbull and that he'd be fighting former interim champion Yair Rodriguez in his debut at UFC 314 on Apr. 12 in Miami, Florida.
It's a bigger fight than most realize, with Ilia Topuria vacating the featherweight title and Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes fighting for the vacant belt. A win for Pitbull could mean an immediate title shot against the winner.
Pitbull made sure his fellow featherweights recieved the memo.
"It's time to conquer a new crown," Pitbull wrote on X. "Featherweights, your future king has arrived!"
Pitbull won back his featherweight title from AJ McKee in 2022 and hasn't lost it since, with White saying on Instagram Live he's basically still the Bellator champion until he's in the Octagon. Pitbull was reportedly in talks with the UFC for the last few weeks and got the official offer on Wednesday.
"There were a lot of moving pieces," Pitbull said of what went into his signing.
Nearing his 38th birthday, Patricio Pitbull is likely in the UFC not for a long time, but a good time, like his former foe Michael Chandler, who he TKO'ed to become Bellator's first simultaneous two-division champion in 2019.
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Pitbull's wins include Juan Archuleta, Emmanuel Sanchez, Kleber Koike, Adam Borics, Pedro Carvalho, and Daniel Straus, with more names to come on the highest level there is.
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