Patricio Pitbull isn’t taking any chances heading into UFC 318. After a rough start to his UFC journey, the former Bellator double champ knows what’s at stakeand he’s done more than just tweak his training camp. He’s gone all in.
Pitbull’s UFC debut ended in a unanimous decision loss to Yair Rodriguez, a fight where he looked flat and out of rhythm. It didn’t resemble the version of Patricio Pitbull that steamrolled through Bellator’s featherweight and lightweight divisions. Now, with Dan Ige standing across from him in New Orleans, Pitbull knows this next one could make or break his place in the UFC.
To sharpen his focus, the Brazilian veteran made a bold decision, he cut off the outside world completely. He relocated to a house in Natal, Brazil, where he’s surrounded only by his coaches and training partners.
“I was very distracted,” Pitbull admitted. “I think the camp had some interferences from personal situations so I decided to isolate myself and leave it all for later. Kind of a pause from social life and problems, mainly.”
His days now revolve around a simple, brutal routine: wake up, train, recover, watch tape, and train again. Even his family time is limited to brief moments. His oldest son, who also trains, gets to visit. The younger one, not so much.
“I can’t lose. That’s the reason,” Pitbull said. “Anything that took my focus away, even for a few minutes, I decided to leave behind. My oldest son comes here and visits me, and that’s because he already trains and behaves himself. The younger one, I meet him a few times during the week with his mother, but only for a few moments. When it’s time to train, rest, lunch, I’m isolated. I don’t have access to part of my family. The great motivation is not to lose the next fight.”
Patricio Pitbull isn’t just fighting for relevance, he’s fighting for redemption. He carried years of expectation into the UFC, and that loss to Rodriguez didn’t sit well with him.
“I debuted in the UFC, an organization that we’ve aimed to be part of for many years, and there was a great expectation around that,” he said. “Yair Rodriguez is not a random guy, he’s a top 5, he was an interim champion before and was going to fight [Alexander] Volkanovski again. It won’t be possible because he’s having surgery. But anyway, that’s for myself. I didn’t like to debut with a loss. It sadly happened. What I can do now is look ahead and take my next step. My next step is this fight, and me doing what’s in my hands. To shield myself from information from outside the camp, let’s put it this way. Everything that gets to me is filtered.”
Even his birthday slipped by unnoticed. That’s how locked in he is to defeat Ige. Patricio Pitbull knows Dan Ige isn’t a pushover. Ige has never been knocked out or submitted and brings a gritty, relentless style that Pitbull believes will bring out the best in him. And after dominating Bellator with 14 finishes in 24 wins, he wants to show UFC fans that the violent version of Pitbull hasn’t gone anywhere.
“I think he’s the gatekeeper of the division, he separates the good from the great,” Pitbull said. “So I really need to put on an above-average performance against him. He was never knocked out or submitted before, he’s tough and comes forward at all times, so he will definitely turn on the switch of the violent Pitbull.”
