Patricio Pitbull vs. Aaron Pico seemed inevitable for years in Bellator, but Pico couldn\u2019t earn a shot at the belt when Pitbull reigned as the 145-pound champion. They will finally meet Saturday under the UFC banner, as part of UFC 327 in Miami, and the Brazilian expects a difficult clash on April 11.<\/p>\n
Pico suffered a brutal knockout in his octagon debut, floored by Lerone Murphy with an epic spinning elbow in August 2025, and Pitbull enters his third UFC fight looking for his second straight victory in the UFC after topping Dan Ige in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy,\u201d Pitbull told MMA Fighting. \u201cIt\u2019s a matchup I\u2019ve wanted for many years. He\u2019s a very tough guy. He had a fight against Murphy where we all knew the winner would be close to a title shot, so I\u2019m happy even though he isn\u2019t ranked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pitbull built a legendary career in Bellator, becoming a two-division champion with a record of 24-6 and 14 finishes. The Brazilian turns 39 in July, but is more than confident in his abilities to finish Pico in Miami and chase another title.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has stone hands and glass chin, right?\u201d Pitbull said of Pico, who had 13 of his 18 bouts end by knockout \u2014 nine wins and five losses. \u201cIt\u2019s a very interesting contrast in one fighter. He has the kind of power that can take a giant\u2019s head off, but also the kind of chin that can get him dropped with a slap to the ear, let\u2019s say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite being aggressive, and bringing a lot of danger with the pressure he applies, his style actually favors my game,\u201d he continued. \u201cI\u2019m a counter striker, and he comes forward. In boxing, we say he walks into punches, he\u2019s coming in to get hit. He throws with a lot of intent, so he\u2019s also there to be hit. He moves forward a lot, and there\u2019s a delay between his steps. All of that fits into my game plan. On paper, everything is laid out perfectly. We\u2019ve completely broken down how I fight, and I expect to execute my strategy in the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pitbull said that Pico is as aggressive today as he was in his Bellator days, but made a mistake against Murphy that cost him the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you watch his fight against Murphy, he started by throwing heavy shots, applying forward pressure and controlling the pace,\u201d Pitbull said. \u201cEven though he suffered a big knockout, he\u2019s not the kind of guy you think, \u2018Oh, this will be an easy, fun fight.\u2019 No, it won\u2019t be. I know the danger he brings. He knocked out a lot of people in Bellator, and those are the kind of knockouts where the opponent goes out cold, not the kind where the guy drops and keeps moving. He hits really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pitbull was scheduled to face Losene Keita in September, two months after his debut loss to Yair Rodriguez, but the newcomer missed weight and the bout was called off. Pitbull said he was still hoping to fight again in 2025 but \u201cmiscommunication with the organization\u201d led to a delay. He decided to have surgery in December and fix a broken nose suffered against Ige, and returns 100 percent prepare to insert himself in the mix for a title shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m at a point in my career that\u2019s new to me,\u201d Pitbull said. \u201cFor the first time, I don\u2019t see anyone putting my name among the title contenders. And, for me, that\u2019s incredible motivation. It\u2019s exactly what I need. Even though I fought Yair Rodriguez, a former champion, and then beat Dan Ige, who\u2019s a very solid fighter who\u2019s done well against top competition, nobody is putting me in that position.<\/p>\n
The former Bellator star had one name in mind for a post-fight callout in Miami, and that is former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. \u201cFunkmaster\u201d is slated to face Youssef Zalal two weeks after UFC 327, headlining the UFC Vegas card on April 25, and Pitbull wants to \u201cshut him up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be a good fight,\u201d Pitbull said. \u201cHe\u2019s a tricky guy, very grappling-heavy. He gave [Movsar] Evloev a tough fight, and he\u2019s ranked No. 5 in the division. He has a fight coming up, and I believe he\u2019ll win, and maybe keep his spot in the ranking or even pass Yair Rodriguez, who\u2019s been inactive for a while. But we know I\u2019ll have to face someone like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c[Sterling] talked trash at me and then backed off,\u201d he continued. \u201cNow he\u2019s ignored my callouts and attempts to intimidate him. He said in an interview that Bellator guys came to the UFC and were put in their place, so that\u2019s a fight I really want. I want to punch him in the mouth for the things he said and shut him up for a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patricio Pitbull vs. Aaron Pico seemed inevitable for years in Bellator, but Pico couldn\u2019t earn a shot at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-589756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}