Patricio Pitbull vs. Gabriel Braga off PFL vs. Bellator card
Patricio Pitbull won’t be fighting at Saturday’s PFL vs. Bellator pay-per-view event in Saudi Arabia after losing another opponent in Gabriel Braga, multiple people with knowledge of the situation told MMA Fighting following a report by MMAjunkie.
PFL announced Braga was “unable to compete.”
Pitbull, the Bellator featherweight champion, was originally slated to meet Jesus Pinedo, who won the 145-pound season in PFL in 2023, however Braga stepped in as a short-notice replacement after Pinedo withdrew. Braga lost to Pinedo in the 2023 finals.
It’s still unclear what led to the withdrawal.
Braga initially agreed to face Aaron Pico on the undercard before moving to the match with Pitbull on the pay-per-view portion. It was going to be his first MMA fight since the murder of his father and head coach Diego Braga in January.
Pitbull was looking to rebound from back-to-back defeats to Sergio Pettis and future RIZIN titleholder Chihiro Suzuki, the former of which was a shot at the Bellator bantamweight title and the latter of which a short-notice lightweight contest in Japan. It’s still unclear if the Brazilian will enter the 2024 PFL season or continue to defend his title in Bellator.
PFL has yet to announce which bout will be moved to the main card. Renan Ferreira and Ryan Bader, the heavyweight champs of PFL and Bellator, collide in the main event.
Mike Heck contributed to this report