Arguably the greatest fighter in the history of Bellator is officially UFC bound. Dana White announced tonight that Patricio Pitbull (36-7) has officially signed with the promotion and he’ll be making his debut in April. Pitbull will be debuting against former interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez (19-5).
These two will fight at UFC 314 in Miami on April 12th. Starting with Pitbull, this is a longtime coming. Pitbull had been extremely vocal about getting his release from the PFL and he finally was granted that release last month. Pitbull was the Bellator featherweight champion and he had defended the title last March.
However, he had grown incredibly frustrated with the lack of fights and he wanted to move on. He is finally getting his chance to fight in the octagon and he’s getting a helluva matchup right out of the gate.
UFC 314
Yair Rodriguez will try to spoil the party for Pitbull in April and he’ll also try to snap his losing streak. Rodriguez won the interim title by stopping Josh Emmett back in 2023 which earned him a shot at the undisputed title against Alexander Volkanovski in July 2023.
Volkanovski stopped Rodriguez in the third round of that one. Last February, Rodriguez fought Brian Ortega in Mexico. Rodriguez dominated early and dropped Ortega but he couldn’t finish the fight. He got tired and takedowns led to him getting submitted by T-City. Now, he returns at UFC 314 and he’ll look to pickup the huge win against Pitbull.