Former Bellator MMA Featherweight champion, Patricio Pitbull, and current Bantamweight champion, Patchy Mix, recently revealed that if Professional Fighters League (PFL) isn’t going to keep them busy, they would prefer to get released from their current contracts.
And Dana White, for one, is not surprised.
During the recent UFC 310 post-fight press conference, the CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was asked about the requests and said that no one should be shocked. Furthermore, the outspoken promoter of the biggest mixed marital arts (MMA) organization in the game says it’s easy to see why this is happening.
“The last couple months we’ve been talking a lot about the PFL,” White said via MMA Fighting. “They’re canceling a lot of shows. I know a lot of guys that are supposed to fight aren’t fighting. You guys know what the f*ck is going on. When you see that start to happen, you’re running out of money, things aren’t looking good, and you’re going to have people that want to jump ship,” he added.
“These guys want to fight. You have a very limited time of opportunity when you’re a professional athlete and even less when you’re a fighter. So I’m sure you’re going to see a lot of that, and we’ll see how this plays out over the next several months going into 2025.”
White did not express whether or not UFC would be interested in picking either of these two champions up should they get released, though it’s safe to say it would be a conversation he wouldn’t mind having if the opportunity presented itself.
Pitbull and Mix are only a couple of fighters over the last few months who have grown tired of the inactivity ever since PFL bought out Bellator MMA in late 2023. In fact, Gegard Mousasi went as far as to file a lawsuit against PFL for allegedly not holding up its financial and of his deal.
The promotion — which cancelled a couple of Bellator shows that were originally on the schedule this year — has finished its 2024 year with the annual championship event which crowned six new champions and dished out as many $1 million checks. Whether or not 2025 brings more — or less — Bellator events, remains to be seen.
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