Bellator champ Patricio Pitbull released from PFL contract after explosive social media rant

Patricio Pitbull has received his wish.

The multiple-time and current Bellator featherweight champion has been incredibly outspoken in recent months regarding his dissatisfaction under the PFL umbrella. Pitbull went as far as to demand his release and stated that he wanted to fight for the UFC to end his lengthy 20-year, 43-fight career.

After a barrage of negative and disgruntled social media posts on Tuesday from Pitbull, PFL founder Donn Davis announced on X that the promotion has officially released the featherweight champion.

"We are releasing Patricio Pitbull," Davis wrote. "PFL is all about opportunity. I founded this company to create new great opportunities for top fighters. PFL has and will continue to do that for all top fighters who want to be here."

Uncrowned's Ariel Helwani confirmed with sources that Pitbull is believed to be fully free to sign anywhere immediately, as his release waived the six months and final fight left on his contract.

Pitbull's tirade of postings began with the now-former champion highlighting the UFC's professionalism for mutually agreeing to part ways with its former women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm on Tuesday. He then turned his attention toward calling out PFL for ghosting fighters and tweaking contracts in the wake of the Bellator acquisition.

"Self-called co-leader in MMA and fighters first organization is cutting a bunch of fighters and forcing others to take pay cuts of up to 70%," Pitbull wrote. "No respect for fighter contracts and what they’ve accomplished.

"The self-called fighters first organization is also changing its contracts so it’s almost impossible for fighters to be free agents and to leave on free agency. Also, tying down fighters' payments for many years and taking away all their leverage.

"The self-called co-leader in MMA is ghosting some fighters/managers and leaving them with no answers while the owner makes silly and disrespectful posts on social media," he added.

Davis, PFL CEO Peter Murray and Francis Ngannou all caught specific shots from Pitbull. As time went on, the typically quiet legend revealed why the change in volume was necessary.

"You wanna know why I’ve been silent for so long?" Pitbull asked. "I had a direct chat with Donn Davis, and he said Pete Murray would talk to us, and we’d come to a 50-50 agreement, which turned out to be a 100-0 stance in favor of PFL and them feeding media with fake news about my contract.

"I’ve seen Donn’s tweets and had to hold myself not to react to them, but after Pete Murray started ghosting us since last week and the official death of Bellator, while hearing about how some fighters are being sent absurd, never-ending low-pay deals, I just couldn’t stay silent."

Pitbull, 37, fought once in the PFL after his longtime fight home at Bellator was acquired in late 2023. That lone appearance saw him successfully defend his title with a vintage third-round knockout victory over Jeremy Kennedy in March 2024. Pitbull holds numerous all-time records in Bellator, making him widely considered the greatest Bellator fighter of all time. Including his last fight, Pitbull went 24-6 in Bellator (36-7 overall). Outside of featherweight gold, he also held the lightweight title and attempted to claim the bantamweight crown.

The news of Pitbull's release comes after he and his fellow Bellator champions and fighters raised concerns about their fighting futures, with a lack of fights coming their way along with event cancellations. PFL has already made several changes to its overall format, including the season tournament format, its prize money and the removal of the overall Bellator brand.

Road to Dubai: Champions Series will be PFL's first event of 2025 on Jan. 25. It will feature a Bellator lightweight title tilt between champion Usman Nurmagomedov and challenger Paul Hughes.