Jesus Pinedo out of bout against Patricio Freire at PFL vs. Bellator: Champions

Jesus Pinedo will not compete next week in the PFL vs. Bellator: Champions event.

The 2023 PFL featherweight champion has withdrawn from the card due to undisclosed reasons, and his bout against Patricio Freire has been removed from the event, which is scheduled to go down on Feb. 24 in Saudi Arabia. “Pitbull” won’t be getting a replacement opponent.

The news was announced by PFL on Saturday morning.

????????????????????????????????: Updated #PFLvsBellator Fight Card

•Jesus Pinedo is OUT
•Jesus Pinedo vs. Patricio Pitbull is off the card
•Claressa Shields vs. Kelsey DeSantis will now be fought at a catchweight of 165lbs

[ #PFLvsBellator | Saturday, Feb 24th | 3pm EST | … pic.twitter.com/NtP7VLvMht

— PFL (@PFLMMA) February 17, 2024

Pinedo (23-6-1), a former UFC fighter, was looking to continue his impressive run. He pulled off one of the biggest surprises in PFL history. The Peruvian stopped Brendan Loughnane, Bubba Jenkins, and Gabriel Braga en route to winning the 2023 PFL featherweight title. He’s currently 7-1 in his past eight fights. Pinedo’s only loss during that stretch came against Braga, which he later avenged.

Freire (35-7), on the other hand, was looking to put a bad stretch behind him with this return. In 2023, he went 0-2 before getting sidelined due to injury. The Brazilian lost to Sergio Pettis in June in an attempt to capture the Bellator bantamweight title and become the first fighter to win titles in three weight classes, and was knocked out by Chihiro Suzuki in a big upset at a Rizin event in Japan.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL vs. Bellator.