After a life of fighting, can Patricio Pitbull find the Fountain of young people at the UFC 314?

In the spring of 2010, almost 15 years on the eve of the à la carte payment of the UFC 314 on Saturday, a Patricio Pitbull, 22, left Brazil for the first time. He went to Connecticut, from all places, to participate in the featherweight tournament of season 2 of Bellator against a Canadian comrade named Wiiliam Romero. As a specialist in the Jiu-Jitsu brand in Brazil, He hit Romero quickly. A heel hook in the first round.

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It was his first major triumph.

Two months later, he lost a shared decision against Joe Warren in the featherweight final, which was his first big back. In a period of two months, Pitbull experienced the ups and downs, a back and forth that would become a work theme throughout his career for the next 15 years. He followed him to the UFC, where he made his debut against Yair Rodriguez at the UFC 314 as champion with two multiple division which seeks to add one more title to his collection in the twilight of a remarkable career.

How did Pitbull – The very image of perseverance – happened here?

“I couldn't tell you something specific, but I think it's just that I always want to be the best,” he said. “I want to be perfect. The reason for my whole life is that I want to be the best in everything I do. ”

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It all started well before he took off his shoes for money. It began to return to Mossoro in the early 1990s, in the Brazilian geography intestine that exceeded in the Atlantic, Rio Grande Do Norte, where he and his brother, Patricky, would jerk off at the drop of a hat before one was old enough to read Dr. Seuss. The two always threw themselves with their hands, blocked their heads and threw themselves on the other side of the room each time the parental heads were turned. It was controversial in the Pitbull house. You might say that the Pitbull brothers, whose birth name is Freire, had what is called a natural ability For fights.

Officially, Patricio had a thousand amateur fights with Patricky, an endless battle that was raging (all the more?) While the brothers formed their own gymnasium in 2010.

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“It's too big to count,” explains Patricio. “I really can't tell you how many times we have fought. It was daily for many reasons, for all reasons, and for many years. And I see that (the same thing) with my two sons right now. They are like me and Patricks were at the time – they are fighting for everything.

“And then when we started to train martial arts, it was not only brothers, it became real fights – we would take off, we are looking for submissions, we would do everything, but we would avoid hitting the face. Everything else was authorized. And therefore, I can say that my biggest and my longest combat partner was my brother.”

The “always wants to be the best” transformed Patricio into a traveling seller for a while. He went through all the Bible belts, the locker and the tornado lane in America. Concho, oklahoma? Check. Yuma, Arizona? Check. Mulvane, Kansas? Check, check, check. He has won 24 times since his debut in Bellator, distinguishing him as one of the most emblematic names in the history of the company. He has also lost seven times.

It is a 24-7 file, for a guy who was 24/7.

He lived the Bjorn Rebney Days, where he jumped in another featherweight tournament – this time the tournament of season 4 of Bellator, which he won in 2011 – and lived to talk about it. Although he lost his first test in a title in 2013, once again via a shared decision, this time for Pat Curran, he continued.

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Faces and places have rejected. Mike Kogan. Rich Chou. Lake Charles, Louisiana. Rio Rancho, New Mexico. TeMecula, California. Deserts and reservations. Another tournament, this one the featherweight tournament of season 9 and Pitbull won again. And this time, while the MMA sisyphus took over Curran for the title in 2014, he pushed the rock just at the top of the mountain.

He beat Curran to win his first belt.

Then it was Scott Coker. Further on the place, through the pond. Rome. Tel Aviv. He lost his belt against Daniel Straus and recognized him by Daniel Straus. Between the two, he lost a weight jumping lark at 155 pounds against Benson Henderson. Later in 2019, he also won the Léger title, against Michael Chandler, another Bellator graduate who is now doing major UFC business.

Ah, yes, the UFC. The other company which took place in parallel with the Pitbull brand during all these years, which, finally, – a few months before its 38th anniversary – is its new house.

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“I was sad with the end of Bellator, but I was not sad to separate from the PFL,” he said, referring to the PFL acquisition of the promotion which raised it. “As they decided that Bellator was dead, my relationship with them too.

To say that Pitbull saw a lot of time in his time is to say it slightly. If you want to study the resilience of hunters, it is encyclopedic. After an undefeated race of 2017-21 in which he held two titles and defended his featherweight belt five times, the dream of a UFC crossover was at its peak. How did he get against Alexander Volkanovski? Jose Aldo? Max Holloway?

This kind of reverie was the longest without value, because there was this score between the UFC and Bellator. We could never know it. Then he lost the title against AJ McKee in 2021 before winning him against AJ McKee in 2022. He tried for a third title, this time as a naughty weight he made a cameo in Japan for Super Rizin 2 and lost against Chihiro Suzuki, who was the first time in his career that he lost consecutive fights.

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Long beach. Saitama, Japan. Then Belfast, in Northern Ireland, where Pitbull showed that he had not yet finished. He knocked out Jeremy Kennedy in March 2024 before this chapter of his life ends. After marking the heads with Donn Davis and the PFL, He released a very public demand.

All this led to Miami for the UFC 314. From UCASVILLE to Dana White and the octagon, where he could also be a fight to realize his dream of fighting for a UFC title. This cannot be the case. It shouldn't be. His path was not straight and – despite his best efforts – was not perfect. He has lost too many times. And he continued to get up.

And in one way or another, there is, arriving at the UFC, a bit like the kid fiery

“The only thing that age affected me was the amount of injuries that I accumulated during my career,” he said, taking a step back to make an inventory. “And sometimes these wounds make me feel older than me. But with regard to my mentality? Regarding my performance? I feel like I'm 10 years old. “

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Here, Pitbull smiles the smile of a man who saw a lot of things through the same eyes as this 10 -year -old child.

“I think I always have the same training as when I was a child. I always play at the highest level, so I feel like I have many years to come as a fighter, ”he says. “You see that there are guys at the gymnasium, they always start their career or have much less years of fighting than me, and they are already stopping because of injuries. I think I had a kind of luck, and I really took great care of myself to be among the best of this sport.

“And I still see many years to come.”