In 2021, Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire was called by then-Bellator boss, Scott Coker, the greatest fighter in the history of the promotion. After all, the Brazilian had become featherweight champ back in 2014, and holds that title, with minor hiccups, until today. In the meantime, he would also move up and win the Bellator lightweight title in 2019. But now, dissatisfied with the post-PFL-Bellator merger situation, he wants out.

And the Brazilian, of course, wants to jump ship in favor of the UFC. ‘Pitbull’ has said that he is serious about moving to the Dana White-led promotion, which has raised one very important question- who will he fight on his UFC debut? Well, ‘Pitbull’s manager, Eric Albaraccin has an idea. “My question to you is, how are we looking at this deal with the UFC? Like are we gonna see him in the UFC anytime soon?” the manager was asked, to which he had a brilliant answer.

“What you do with Patricio ‘Pitbull’ is right here,” Albaraccin said pointing to his t-shirt which had ‘Pitbull’ and UFC BMF champion Max Holloway on it. “He wants to move over and I say there’s plenty of fights for him, one being the BMF belt,” the manager continued making a case for why his client deserves to fight for a UFC title in his very first appearance in the promotion.

“Who’s the real baddest motherf***er? A guy who went up and fought Michael Chandler and knocked him out in one minute twenty seconds. A guy that came back against Daniel Straus in the fifth round, in the last ten seconds with a rear naked choke. So you know ‘Pitbull’, he comes over to the UFC, I see him right in there with all these legends and I think the easiest way to do that is the BMF belt,” the manager concluded.

This seems like a good idea. After all, Holloway is coming off a tough loss to Ilia Topuria and needs a bounce-back fight. While a fight with ‘Pitbull’ wouldn’t really help him get back in title contention, it would still be a big payday for him and give ‘Blessed’ some positive momentum going forward.

On the other hand, ‘Pitbull’ would get to fight a UFC legend for a title on debut, establishing him in the rankings if he manages to win that fight. But there is another pertinent question that many fans have about ‘Pitbull’s decision to leave Bellator- why?

Why does Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire want to leave PFL-Bellator?

When the PFL took over Bellator last year, it was seen by many as the first step for the Donn Davis-led promotion towards competing with the UFC. Well, that hasn’t turned out to be true. Instead, the new PFL-Bellator entity is seemingly imploding under its own weight.

Many fighters have been vocal, calling out the PFL for not being able to give them fights. Some big stars, like former champion Gegard Mousasi and top contender Lorenz Larkin, have even left the organization since the merger. And this is precisely the case with ‘Pitbull’. The Brazilian’s last fight was his featherweight title clash against Tim Kennedy eight months ago and doesn’t know when his next fight will be.

“I wanted to fight 3x this year, but I was told I’d have to wait until December 31st and found out online my opponent would fight someone else… What kind of promotion can’t give fighters at least two fights a year… Even regional promotions have dates set for April of next year already! This merger has been a disaster to the sport of MMA,” ‘Pitbull’ exclaimed in a recent interview. What do you think about Eric Albaraccin’s idea about a ‘Pitbull’-Holloway clash?