Somewhat lost amidst the madness of Dana White breaking the massive UFC 314 and UFC 315 news that shook up the mixed martial arts world Wednesday night was the fact the UFC added the most accomplished fighter in Bellator MMA history to its roster.
Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, a three-time Bellator featherweight and one-time lightweight champion. is set to make his organizational debut at UFC 314 in Miami on April 12 opposite former interim UFC featherweight titleholder Yair Rodriguez.
The 37-year-old from Brazil, colloquially referred to by his nickname, Pitbull, will become the 11th fighter to make his or her UFC debut after having already won a Bellator world title.
Michael Chandler, Eddie Alvarez, Alexander Volkov, Ben Askren, Hector Lombard, Lyman Good, Will Brooks, Joe Soto, Zach Makovsky and Cris Cyborg previously did the same.
The longtime featherweight champion and former two-weight titleholder became a free agent earlier this year after he was granted his release by the Professional Fighters League, the organization that acquired and enveloped Bellator in 2023.
Pitbull has only fought once since the PFL-Bellator merger — a third-round technical knockout win over Canadian Jeremy Kennedy to defend his title 11 months ago — and had been one of the more vocal fighters in openly expressing disappointment dealing with new PFL management since the two UFC rival organizations merged.
Sporting a 36-7 career pro record, Pitbull was Bellator’s all-time leader in total wins, championship victories, and title defences among other records.
His most notable win was in 2019 when he moved up a division to become a simultaneous two-weight champion by finishing Michael Chandler in 61 seconds to win Bellator’s lightweight title.
The old rivals will reunite in Miami during fight week with Chandler slated to face Paddy Pimblett in a five-round co-main event at UFC 314.
In the other direction, fighters such as Sergio Pettis, Kyoji Horiguchi, Phil Davis, Ryan Bader, Corey Anderson, Liz Carmouche, and Canada’s Rory MacDonald became Bellator champions following their respective tenures in the UFC.
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