Pitbull Eager To Maker PFL-Bellator History

While not everyone is enthused following the recent acquisition of Bellator MMA by Professional Fighters League (PFL) — I’m looking at you, Cyborg — there are those that are eager at the prospects of making history.

Among them is current Bellator MMA Featherweight champion, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, who knows a thing or two about cross-promotion fights, as he defeated RIZIN 145-pound champion, Kleber Koike Erbst, at Bellator vs RIZIN 1 in Dec. 2022 in a non-title fight.

While “Pitbull” did have one eye at potentially joining Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), now that he knows what his future hold he is all for making more history inside the Smart Cage.

“(I was) a little bit sad, a little bit happy – everything,” Freire said in an interview with MMA Junkie about Bellator being sold. “Let’s see what’s going to happen. I’m here. I believe the good point is we’re going to make history. We’re going to make a lot of crossover (MMA history), that I was asking for all the time. I fought against the Rizin champion and I beat him. Now I have the chance to fight against the PFL champ, so it’s a good thing.”

Indeed, Bellator and PFL will continue to run as two separate entities, but PFL head honcho, Donn Davis, did say that the door is opening for cross-promotion fights and teased a looming “champion vs. champion” mega-card in 2024.

That means that “Pitbull” will face off against the 2023 Featherweight champion, Jesus Pinedo, who defeated Gabriel Braga via third-round technical knockout (TKO) this past Friday (Nov. 24, 2023) at the PFL Championships to not only earn a $1 million payout, but a chance at facing Freire.

Afterward, “Pitbull”stepped into the cage to face off against Pinedo, giving him his first up close-and-personal look at his next potential opponent.

“(His performance) was great. I’m going to face a new opponent, and he’s good. It will be a great (fight for) me. He was trying to bark louder than me (in the faceoff), but he’s not going to be able to do that (in the fight),” said the Featherweight champion.

Pitbull is currently on a two-fight losing streak, coming up short in his quest to dethrone former Bantamweight champion, Sergio Pettis, at Belaltor 297 and then getting knocked out by Chihiro Suzuki at Super Rizin 2 in a last-minute fight the Brazilian bomber accepted.

---

To check out the latest Bellator MMA-related news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive news archive right here.