Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull will face 2023 PFL featherweight season winner Jesus Pinedo on the upcoming pay-per-view present in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 24, but it surely stays to be seen if Pitbull can be a part of the PFL common season going ahead.
Pitbull advised MMA Combating’s Trocação Franca podcast he prefers to defend his 145-pound Bellator championship, because it was introduced that Bellator will proceed to run as a global model with title bouts on all playing cards. Plus, he doesn’t like two issues in regards to the PFL.
“I do know what’s taking place now’s one thing enormous, Bellator and PFL have merged, however, as a Bellator fan, Bellator feels totally different,” Pitbull stated. “You go to an area to look at Bellator, you see 25,000 individuals, you see a protracted line of followers getting into the world, you see individuals screaming. On the PFL, what I noticed was a studio. It doesn’t excite me to struggle on that format.
“I don’t know the way it’s going to be going ahead, in the event that they’re taking the knowhow from Bellator and doing PFL occasions the identical means. I’m seeing extra advertising about it, you may clearly see the distinction, however PFL just isn’t what Bellator was once. They’ve to indicate me, as a result of I haven’t seen it but.
“I used to be invited to go to the PFL, and it has nice construction,” he continued. “I’ve by no means seen something like that. The corners had LEDs, one thing utterly futuristic, however in a small venue, like if it was a TV present. I’m not used to that. I need to wait and see what is going to occur. I’d fairly stick with Bellator.”
The opposite factor that bothers Pitbull about the best way PFL conducts its matchmaking is the format season and scoring system. The playoffs for the million-dollar prize are outlined based mostly on who scored extra factors in the course of the common season, however stage of opposition doesn’t come into play.
“For those who end somebody within the first spherical, second, third, that’s [six, five or four] factors. For those who win a call, it’s [three] factors,” Pitbull stated. “However, let’s say I struggle a former world champion and win a three-round battle, and another person knocks out a no one within the first spherical, he’s advancing and I’m not. That confuses me. It’s a transparent critic I make about the best way PFL does the season. To me, that’s bullsh*t. It’s unfair. It doesn’t make any sense to me since you struggle a tricky opponent and the opposite man fought a straightforward opponent and obtained the end, and also you don’t advance due to factors. It’s sh*t.”
Pitbull stated his contract is nearing its finish, but it surely received’t be accomplished in 2024. The champion clause may lengthen it, too, so he needs to attend and see what’s on the desk earlier than he decides his future. Pitbull stated he’s nonetheless open to going to the UFC if it is sensible, however likes what he’s heard from PFL founder Donn Davis.
“He seems to be like a child with a brand new toy,” Pitbull stated. “He’s very excited. I prefer it. I’ve met him as soon as and we spoke for at the very least an hour, greater than I’ve ever spoken with [former Bellator president] Scott Coker all these years. I’ve all the time had a pleasant relationship with Scott Coker but it surely was all the time a two, three-minute dialog. [Davis] appeared excited, hopeful, with a number of plans and concepts. He actually looks as if a child with a brand new toy, and I like that. He is aware of he has to function with two manufacturers, and the problem is totally different.”
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