Brendan Loughnane has proposed to fight Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire.
Rumor Has It…
Promotions apart, what exactly sparked the 2022 PFL Featherweight Champion’s interest in fighting Bellator’s Featherweight Champion? Well, that would be a result of circulating rumors that the PFL is trying to buy out their rival promotion Bellator. This report is according to MMA journalist, Todd Atkins.
PFL finalizing deal to purchase Bellator https://t.co/cGBx43sFmm via @YouTube
— The Todd Atkins Show 🥋 (@ToddAtkinsMMA) April 27, 2023
While the news has still yet to be 100% confirmed, Loughnane has thrown out the idea of a title unification bout, should the merger take place between the two promotions.
“Imagine me and Pitbull to unify the belts,” Lougnane told Mirror Fighting. “I’ve just seen it online [that PFL is finalizing a deal to buy Bellator]. I don’t know how true it is, but let’s hope that it’s true and I can unify the belts with Pitbull. Why not? It would be insane, that’s the type of sh*t I’m talking about.”
Patricio Pitbull is highly regarded as Bellator’s greatest fighter ever. The 35 year-old has picked up belts in both the featherweight and lightweight divisions and holds wins over the likes of Michael Chandler, AJ McKee and Juan Archuleta.
Pitbull will try to make more history happen when he challenges Sergio Pettis for the bantamweight championship in June, where he looks to be a three-division world champion.
‘I’ve Beat All Serious Names’
Loughnane, on the other hand, is just getting started. The British fighter touched PFL gold for the first time last year, where he defeated Bubba Jenkins to win the featherweight title as well as $1M. He’ll try to do it again in this year’s season and is off to a good start so far, beating former UFC title challenger Marlon Moraes earlier this month.
“Once I win this year’s tournament it means I’ve won eight fights consecutively and then you look at the names I’ve beat on that run. Marlon Moraes, Sheymon Moraes, Bubba Jenkins, Chris Wade, I’ve beat all serious names and I’ve finished a few of them and I feel like I’m really building up a big name for myself now in MMA. I’m starting to get looked at as one of the elite 145lb fighters.”
If the rumors of the PFL purchasing Bellator end up being true, a world title unification win over a potential three-division Bellator Champion in Patricio Pitbull would build Brendan Loughnane’s name bigger than ever before.
