With a dominant run in the Bellator featherweight and lightweight divisions, Patricio Pitbull is being mentioned among the ranks of the best fighters in the world, regardless of organization. He continues to call for the chance to prove it, and actually makes a fairly decent argument for doing so.
While at first glance it is easy to dismiss the claims of Pitbull being the best featherweight in the world today, at closer inspection this claim holds a bit of weight. While it seems likely that he falls just short of the likes of Max Holloway or Alexander Volkanovski, he could be considered the third best.
While he has not been tested against the UFC’s best, Patricio has gotten several impressive wins over the years. By far, the one that ages the best is his first round TKO over Michael Chandler, who has since moved on to the UFC and is currently set to fight for the vacant lightweight title.
Michael Chandler Represents Patricio Pitbull
Although Patricio Pitbull has not competed in the UFC, he feels like having such an impressive win over Michael Chandler speaks volumes for his skills. In fact, he says that Mike represents him in the UFC, just because of how dramatic his win was over the lightweight contender.
Speaking in a recent interview, the Bellator champ-champ said that he picks Chandler to win the title over Charles Oliveira, which would prove that he is better than most UFC fighters.
“We have Michael Chandler fighting for the title in the UFC, and we all know that I beat him in less than a minute. If Dana White doesn’t put his champion to fight against the Bellator champion, he doesn’t have balls,” Pitbull said.
“He’s representing me in the UFC now, and I know he’s going to be the champ. I (respect) Charles Oliveira, but I know Michael Chandler the most… He’s going to end the fight in the beginning…
“Everyone knows he is the best lightweight in Bellator too, so he makes history. Now he’s fighting in the UFC and he’s doing the same thing, destroying people. I destroyed him in one minute, so it looks good for me too.”
Alexander Volkanovski or Max Holloway?
If you do not see Patricio Pitbull as the best featherweight in the world, the debate comes down to either champ Alexander Volkanovski, or former champ Max Holloway. In Patricio’s opinion, he thinks that Max is actually the better of the two, despite losing the two fights to Alex.
Patricio has made it clear that he wants to do a cross promotion fight with the UFC, and if it were up to him, he would fight Max Holloway. He sees that as a bigger test to prove that he is the best 145lb fighter on Earth.
“I think the next step in the sport is going to be cross promotion and I would love to fight against UFC champion Volkanovski or Max Holloway to prove who’s the best. I think it’s the next step,” Pitbull said.
“I remember at the time when Pride was the best organization and UFC tried to do some cross promotion, and now they don’t have the balls to do that again because they don’t have the best fighters… I think the best fight to do is me against Max Holloway. He needs to get his belt back, so it makes sense.”
How do you think Patricio Pitbull would do against the likes of Alexander Volkanovski or Max Holloway? Where do you put him in the list of top featherweights in the world?
