Patricio Pitbull is fed up with his treatment in PFL.
It hasn’t been the year many hoped for in PFL after the promotion acquired Bellator in late 2023. PFL entered 2024 with a larger and more talented roster than ever before, seemingly with a myriad of fresh, exciting matchups on the horizon. But unfortunately for Pitbull, the reigning multi-time Bellator featherweight champion has been one of many high-profile fighters to fall victim to the recent standstill between the promotional entities amid a recent stretch of unexplained event cancellations.
“The last straw was them canceling my fight,” Pitbull said on Monday’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “They had me waiting to Dec. 31 and let me know with a few weeks’ notice that my flight was canceled. I actually found out the change of opponents on the internet and then they said there would be no event.
“Things just kept piling up and I just said enough is enough.”
Pitbull, 37, has fought once under the PFL umbrella in 2024, defending his 145-pound crown with a third-round knockout of Jeremy Kennedy in March.
Widely considered one of the greatest Bellator fighters ever, Pitbull expected to return for a Bellator Japan show on New Year’s Eve. Discussions circled about the possibility of a champion vs. champion rematch against RIZIN featherweight titleholder Chihiro Suzuki. In the pair’s 2023 encounter, Suzuki scored one of the biggest upsets in recent MMA history when he knocked out Pitbull in the first round.
Instead, Suzuki is set to defend his title in a different rematch — against former RIZIN champion Kleber Koike — on the same date at RIZIN 49. Original talks with Pitbull vs. Suzuki 2 included Pitbull’s brother, Patricky Pitbull, fighting Koike, making the night a potential family affair.
Perennial Bellator featherweight contender Aaron Pico then came into the mix and appeared to be a likely option for a Bellator event that was eventually canceled.
Pitbull still has no answer for why the shows fizzled.
“I asked them to fight in the middle of the year, but those were all booked,” Pitbull said of PFL. “So I asked to fight in September against Pico, and they said, according to that, I had to choose to either fight Pico in September or Chihiro in December. I wanted to do both of those fights. As I have a history with Chihiro, I chose to fight him first. If it was up to me, I would have done those two fights this year.”
Pitbull has arguably been the loudest voice among the Bellator roster to speak out against what’s happening in PFL, but he isn’t the only one. Several current Bellator champions, such as Patchy Mix at bantamweight and Johnny Eblen at middleweight, have also expressed their frustrations.
Heading into 2025, several signs from PFL indicate that the Bellator brand is about to cease its existence. PFL’s Road to Dubai Champions Series event on Jan. 25 is headlined by a Bellator lightweight title tilt between champion Usman Nurmagomedov and challenger Paul Hughes, however Bellator’s lone mention across the card has been the title itself.
Pitbull said he’s already been told there’s “no chance” of competing on that Jan. 25 date and he’s not sure why. All he knows is the company he helped build to major MMA prominence is long gone.
“The Bellator that I helped build is no more,” Pitbull said. “They even look like they changed the name. It’s now Road to Dubai, so everything is much different than what it used to be. The history that I made in Bellator was beautiful, but it’s a cycle that has come to an end. It’s not the same place anymore.
“Things aren’t working like they used to, and I think we just have to move our separate ways. No strings attached.
“I really feel [head of Bellator fight operations Mike Kogan] wants to help us, but it’s not something that is possible right now,” he concluded.
In Pitbull’s 43-fight career, all but 13 of those bouts have taken place in a Bellator-branded cage, dating back to his promotional debut in April 2010. The Brazilian holds just about any record you can think of for the promotion, capturing the featherweight title three times, the lightweight title once, nine total title defenses, the most Bellator wins (23), most Bellator featherweight wins (22), most Bellator title fight wins (13), most Bellator fights (29), most Bellator title fights (17), most Bellator finishes (14) and so on.
There’s nothing left in Bellator that Pitbull hasn’t done, so moving on isn’t a problem for him — and it’s what he wants.
Pitbull said there’s one fight left on his Bellator contract, however it expires in four or five months. PFL hasn’t offered him a spot in their annual seasonal tournament and he wouldn’t be interested anyway.
Pitbull’s sole focus now is to part ways and join the UFC.
“I wish we would just shake hands and go our separate ways,” Pitbull said. “I’m not waiting for anything legal. I just go there, talk, and arrive ready to go. Even if they give me a part of the promotion, whatever money they provide me, I’m not interested. I just want to move on and fight these other guys. I already told them that even if they let my contract be up and they come up with much more money, whatever, I’m not interested.
“I’m not very young anymore, so time is of the essence. The longer I stay without a fight, I’m losing rhythm, and it’s important for me right now to be active. So I just wish we could basically just shake hands and go separate things now.
“Now, for me, it’s about legacy,” he concluded. “I want to fight in the UFC.”
