Patricio Pitbull watched Alexander Volkanovski knock out Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 and decided he wants a piece of the champion before his own career runs out. The Brazilian made his intentions public on X shortly after Saturday’s main event in Abu Dhabi wrapped up.
“Congratulations to @alexvolkanovski on the record and great fight. I’ll finish whoever the @ufc puts in front of me so we cross paths. #UFC333,” Pitbull wrote.
That’s a callout with a built-in condition, and Pitbull seems to know it. He isn’t asking to skip the line. He’s promising stoppages until the UFC has no choice but to pay attention.
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The road there is steep. Pitbull, 39, sits at 2-2 inside the Octagon, a record that looks strange next to the résumé he built in Bellator, where he held titles in two divisions. His UFC run has included losses to Yair Rodriguez and Aaron Pico, setbacks that slowed the late-career title push he came over to make. His most recent outing was the encouraging one. At UFC 331 in September, he knocked out Dooho Choi, the best performance he’s put together in the promotion, per Bloody Elbow. A win in his next fight would give him his first winning streak in the UFC. That next fight hasn’t been booked yet.
Volkanovski, meanwhile, keeps stacking defenses. The 38-year-old Australian took Evloev’s undefeated record on Saturday, sending the Russian home from his title shot with his first loss after he walked in at 20-0. It was another successful defense of the 145-pound belt for a champion who’s already deep into legend territory.
And that’s the problem for Pitbull. Volkanovski’s name is already tied to another legend. He’s been calling for a fight with Justin Gaethje, and Dana White has backed the idea. Bloody Elbow framed that one as a potential double retirement fight in 2027. If that’s how the champion’s story ends, Pitbull’s window closes with it, so he’s racing a clock that belongs to someone else.
Quick take
I love the tweet. No trash talk, no tagging the champ with a list of grievances, just congratulations and a promise to go finish people. That’s a veteran’s callout. But the math is brutal. A 2-2 fighter with one good night in the Octagon doesn’t jump a Gaethje farewell, and he shouldn’t. What Pitbull can do is exactly what he said: get booked soon, get a stoppage, then do it again, all before the champion and Gaethje sit down to sign anything. The Choi knockout bought him attention. Two more like it buy him a conversation. The UFC’s job now is to give him a dance partner fast, because a 39-year-old making promises in October doesn’t have the luxury of waiting until spring.
