San Jose, CA — Patricio Pitbull appears to know the definition of insanity, as he will not be trying the same approach twice when he meets A.J. McKee for the second time at Bellator 277.
Admittedly, things didn’t go Pitbull’s way in the pair’s first meeting last summer. He found himself rocked, submitted, lost out on a million dollars in the featherweight grand prix final — and lost his world title.
He’d vacate his other belt, Bellator’s lightweight title, to pursue the rematch with McKee at 145 pounds.
“I’ve been in this game since 2004. When I lost the belt [to McKee], the first day I got to Brazil I started training again,” he explained during this week’s Bellator 277 media day. “Of course I wasn’t training like a madman. I’m 34 years old. That last strategy was thrown out the window and I’m training for a new strategy. I’ve trained to be a lot smarter in this fight.“
Asked by Cageside Press whether we could see a trilogy come together should he get his revenge on Friday, Pitbull (32-5) said only that “my rivalry is against everyone who is going to put their hands on me. He has my belt, I want to take it back.”
Nor is he concerned about proving anything in the rematch. “I don’t care about that. In the last fight, I was the favorite, and I lost the fight.”
Circling back to the change in game plan, Patricio Pitbull touched on what went wrong last time — and what will be different in the second fight with McKee.
“I never fight with emotions. I always fight with strategy. So I’m going to try to do the same again,” he stated. Coach Eric Albaraccin then added a single word to describe his fighter: “Cold.”
Watch the full Bellator 277 media day appearance with Patricio Pitbull above. The event is set to take place this Friday, April 15, 2022 at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA.
-
A.J. McKee
-
Aaron Pico
-
Vadim Nemkov
-
Patricio Pitbull
-
Tim Johnson
-
Corey Anderson
