Patricio Pitbull completed almost half of his fights beneath the Bellator banner, constructing a document of 24-6 with 14 stoppages to throughout three reigns as featherweight champion within the now-defunct promotion. Nonetheless, he wasn’t capable of replicate that success in his long-awaited UFC debut.
The 37-year-old Brazilian misplaced a call to Yair Rodriguez on the principle card of UFC 314 this previous Saturday and leaves Miami feeling he might have carried out higher. Pitbull admitted the early portion of the struggle was “boring,” missing motion on each side, however Rodriguez finally deserved the nod.
“Possibly for spending a few years combating in five-round fights, I don’t know if my sense of urgency took too lengthy to activate,” Pitbull advised MMA Combating. “It was my mistake to not begin with the foot on the fuel, but it surely’s comprehensible as a result of that would have led to a mistake. I don’t prefer to make errors. I prefer to hit the goal after I hearth. Typically, I might have carried out extra, went for struggle, hunted him, but it surely’s too late to say. We might have carried out higher.”
Pitbull stated he didn’t really feel octagon jitters in his first look contained in the UFC octagon. Actually, he believes that would have been a problem since he was “too relaxed” that night time. Used to having a successful document in Bellator, Pitbull vows to vary the course of his UFC profession.
“Now that I’m now not the champion I’ve to hunt my opponents,” Pitbull stated. “That’s precisely what I’m going to do in my subsequent fights. I’ve to do it, and I’ll do it.”
Pitbull began a ballot on his social media asking who needs to be his subsequent opponent within the octagon, with Dan Ige outvoting Josh Emmett, Aljamain Sterling and Diego Lopes. Ige competed on the identical night time in Miami, scoring a controversial knockout of Sean Woodson within the third spherical in a bout that Ige was main on the scorecards after two rounds.
“They’re all good names, and I feel that’s going to be the following transfer. However I advised the UFC to shock me,” Pitbull stated. “I needed to debut with the best foot. Had I beat Yair Rodriguez, I’d positively be within the high 5 now and folks can be asking me about presumably being subsequent for the belt. Now I’ve to have a look at the highest 15. It’s a bit irritating, however I perceive that’s what must occur now.”
