Patrício Pitbull, the former two division champion at Bellator aims at going down at Flyweight after being victorious against Sergio Pettis at Bellator 297.
Pitbull versus Pettis is the co-main event Bellator 297. The event is headlined by a Light Heavyweight title bout between Vadim Nemkov and Yoel Romero. If victorious against Pettis in the Bantamweight title bout, he would be the first fighter to hold titles in three different weight classes in MMA history.
Prior to the defeat against AJ McKee, Patrício Pitbull was the face of the promotion. Patrício had an eight fight win streak snapped with the loss to Mckee. McKee was defeated in the rematch by Pibull who is currently on 3 fight win streak.
Patrício Pitbull
Patrício has notable victories over Michael Chandler, AJ Mckee, Daniel Strauss and Emmanuel Sanchez. Pitbull has a professional MMA record of 35 wins and 5 losses. He has avenged defeats against both McKee and Strauss.
Pitbull began his career at Bellator with the Bellator 15 event against William Romero which was the quarter finals of the Featherweight tournament. Wilson Reis was his opponent in the semi finals in a bout Pitbull won comfortably by unanimous decision. The final of the tournament was at Bellator 23 against Joe Warren. Pitbull lost the fight by split decision.
Patrício competed in Bellator’s season 4 Featherweight tournament which he won against Daniel Straus in the finals at Bellator 45. Georgi Karakhanyan and Wilson Reis were finished comfortably in the quarter finals and semi finals respectively.
After winning the tournament, Pitbull faced Pat Curran at Bellator 85 for the Bellator Featherweight World Championship. In a back and forth fight, Curran edged out a split decision victory over Patrício. Bellator 9 Featherweight tournament was won by Pitbull.
Featherweight reign
Patrício then challenged Pat Curran in a rematch at Bellator 123 in a fight Pitbull wins by unanimous decision. Patrício would defend the title two times against Daniel Strauss and Daniel Weichel at Bellator 132 and Bellator 138 respectively.
Pitbull loses the title to Strauss in a rematch at Bellator 145. He would eventually get the belt back at Bellator 178 but befor that he loses a Lightweight bout against former UFC Lightweight champion, Benson Henderson via leg injury.
Following recapturing the title, Pitbull would defend the title against Daniel Weichel and Emmanuel Sanchez before attaining double champ status by beating current UFC Lightweight contender, Michael Chandler by KO.
The finish against Chandler is followed by 3 consecutive title defenses over Juan Archuleta, Pedro Carvalho and Emmanuel Sanchez at Bellator 228, Bellator 252 and Bellator 255 respectively.
Patrício would lose the title for the second time at Bellator 263, this time against undefeated prospect, AJ McKee. The title would be reclaimed in an immediate rematch by unanimous decision at Bellator 277. His first defense of the third title reign was against Ádám Borics at Bellator 286.
Pitbull would be fighting Sergio Pettis, the current Bantamweight champion at Bellator. This fight has the potential to produce the first three weight champion in Pitbull. Pettis last fought against Kyoji Horiguchi at Bellator 272 by a spinning back fist finish in the fifth round.
Sergio Pettis
Sergio Pettis is the younger brother of former UFC Lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis. He began his mainstream MMA career with the UFC where he compiled a 9-5 record. Pettis undefeated with Bellator and currently has 5 wins with the promotion.
Pettis would win the title against then champion Juan Archuleta via unanimous decison in what was his third fight with the promotion. Pettis was to be part of 8 man Bantamweight tournament after the victory but injury forced him to sit out.
In his absence, Patchy Mix becomes the interim Bantamweight champion. Mix defeated Raufeon Stots, friend and trainer partner of Pettis in the first round of the finals of the Bantamweight grand prix. Prior to that Mix had already defeated Horiguchi and Magomedov in quarter finals and semi finals respectively.