Patricky Pitbull made history in Ireland, knocking out Peter Queally in enemy territory to capture the Bellator lightweight belt his brother Patricio Pitbull vacated just weeks before.
Speaking with MMA Fighting three days after the title win, Pitbull that explained his strategy consisted in starting slow and using his hands, while Queally “paid too much attention to leg kicks because I hurt his leg last time.”
The Brazilian was “a bit patient” early on this time, “keeping the prey relaxed until the think they can win” and then went for the finish.
Pitbull said it really hasn’t soaked in with him yet that he has finally conquered Bellator gold after more than a decade in the company, but felt, while Queally was walking out to The Cranberries’ “Zombie” to a serenade of Irishmen in Dublin on Friday, that it was going to be a special night.
“When the music was over and they turned the lights back on, I looked at my brother and started laughing,” Pitbull said. “Really, I just started laughing and said, ‘Brother, I’m becoming world champion today. I’ll knock this guy out.’”
A father of three, Pitbull compares the emotion of becoming lightweight champion to becoming a parent.
“I can’t stop and think what I have to do now [after winning the belt],” he said. “It’s like I just became father for the first time. Now I know the responsibility I carry with me and what I have to do to keep the belt, to keep this baby with me. I’m already planning a few things, I have a few things in mind. My wife says I have to relax a little bit, but it’s hard [laughs].
“The belt is pure joy and happiness, but there’s also a huge responsibility to keep it. The difference is that you provide to your kids with money, and the belt, you keep it by training hard. I’ll continue to train hard and focused, just like I did for this fight, because I want to keep this belt and defend it many times. I want to make history as champion.”
Pitbull plans on flying to the United States to work with wrestling coach Eric Albarracin and former two-division UFC champion and Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo, who often travels to Brazil to work with the Pitbull brothers, to prepare for his first title defense.
Bellator has yet to decide who will be next for the Brazilian 155-pounder, but Pitbull expects it to be former titleholder Brent Primus or Sidney Outlaw.
“I’ll be ready for anyone, for [Primus] or whoever,” Pitbull said. “[Primus] makes more sense. He’s a former champion, we never fought, he just won [against Ben Henderson], he’s tough. This fight was supposed to happen before and didn’t, so I’m here. Let’s see if Bellator gives him [the title shot]. But I think it’s going to be either one of those two names. There’s no trash talker like Peter Queally to jump the line now.”