Patricio Pitbull vs Gabriel Alves Braga
While losing the PFL 2023 featherweight champion on a week’s notice is unfortunate, his opponent in the finals, Gabriel Alves Braga, makes for an excellent replacement to face the Bellator GOAT, Patricio Pitbull, at the PFL VS Bellator: CHAMPS event. His legitimacy to face a champion is helped by the fact that he beat Pinedo the first time they fought. At twenty-five years of age and coming off only the first loss of his career, Braga is a violent Brazilian striker who has potential to show that the next generation of featherweights can live up to the last by beating a man eleven years his senior.
Although Patricio is coming off the first losing streak of his professional MMA career, the circumstances of taking significant damage when moving down in weight to fight a fellow champion and then flying across the world to face an elite kickboxer a month later allow for some leeway. His recent run of victories over AJ McKee, Adam Borics, and Kleber Koike Erbst show that he is still capable of defusing his opponents’ processes and out-duel them. This will be a clash of striking styles, the aggressive violence of Braga against the calm technician in Pitbull; whichever can implement their game will win. Even if Pitbull slows the pace of the fight, which may not be to the liking of some fans, the skill level still makes this one worth watching.
The legacy of Patricio is well and truly secured, but like his counterpart in the UFC, their GOAT Jose Aldo, racking up wins against top fighters this far past one’s prime can grow his greatness still. It also must be mentioned that Braga’s father and coach, MMA veteran Diego Braga was killed little over a month ago in Brazil, adding a tragic backstory to this fight. Fans have respect for these circumstances, but certainly no one who watches from afar will appreciate Gabriel’s hardships more than Braga’s friend, idol, and opponent, Patricio Pitbull.
