On the main card of UFC 314, we saw the promotional debut of a former world champion. Patricio Pitbull (36-8) made his highly anticipated octagon debut as he took on former interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez (20-5).
There was so much hype behind the debut of Patricio Pitbull. Pitbull is arguably the most decorated fighter in the history of Bellator and the last time we saw him, he was successfully defending his Bellator featherweight title. There was a thought that if he could come in and have a big time debut that he would potentially get a title shot.
I was hoping that Pitbull would come out and fight with urgency the way Michael Chandler did when he made the jump from Bellator. However, Pitbull just seemed frozen in the first round. It’s almost like he didn’t realize that the fight was only three rounds. We didn’t see any urgency at all and he let Rodriguez win the first round just with throwing a few shots.
In the second round, Pitbull picked it up a little but still didn’t seem that urgent. He finally started fighting with more urgency in the third but it came with desperation and that led to him getting dropped by Rodriguez. When the fight was over it was a lopsided loss for Pitbull and an extremely disappointing UFC debut.
What’s next after UFC 314?
It’s crazy that we go from talking about Pitbull potentially fighting for the title to potentially not even getting a ranked opponent in his next fight. The updated rankings came out today and Pitbull isn’t even in the top fifteen after that performance on Saturday night.
So, what should the UFC do with him next? I think he should face someone near the back half of the rankings and someone who will give him a really good fight. I love the idea of Pitbull facing someone like Dan Ige next. Ige got a TKO win over Sean Woodson on Saturday night to move up to 14th in the rankings. Sign me up for Pitbull – Ige to really see if Pitbull is cut out for the octagon.