Patricio Pitbull Stops Choi at UFC 331

Patricio Pitbull finally delivered a UFC finish to match his reputation. The former Bellator champion knocked out Doo Ho Choi at 3:28 of the first round at UFC 331 on September 19, turning a sharp exchange of punches into an emphatic victory at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Pitbull had arrived with a mixed UFC record and plenty to prove after a decision loss to Aaron Pico. Against Choi, he looked willing to take the initiative, work through the taller man’s jab and keep changing his targets. The right hand that broke the fight open came after repeated attacks to the body and head, rather than a long spell waiting for Choi to make the first move.

It was Pitbull’s second UFC victory and his first stoppage for the promotion. The result also interrupted Choi’s run of three consecutive knockout wins, making this a meaningful rebound against an opponent who had been rebuilding momentum of his own.

Pitbull finds the right hand behind his pressure

Choi took the middle of the cage early and tried to establish his range. His jab and short uppercut gave Pitbull something to navigate on the way in, and the Brazilian did not have every exchange to himself. Choi continued to answer with combinations as the distance between them closed.

Pitbull’s response was to make those exchanges uncomfortable. He landed to the body, brought kicks into his attack and returned upstairs with the jab and right hand. Mixing the levels of his offense kept Choi occupied while Pitbull pressed forward. The Brazilian was increasingly able to connect before Choi could complete his own combinations.

The decisive right hand left Choi badly hurt. Pitbull immediately followed him down and continued punching until referee Mike Beltran stepped between them. UFC recorded the finish as a knockout by strikes. Choi’s early resistance had made the fight competitive, but he was unable to recover once that final sequence began.

The knockout took Pitbull to 38 professional victories after a career spent mostly in Bellator. His background matters to the expectation around each UFC appearance: he arrived with championship experience, but still had to establish where he belonged against a different group of featherweights.

Choi had entered with stoppages of Bill Algeo, Nate Landwehr and Daniel Santos behind him. Pitbull’s win therefore did more than repair his own previous result: it halted a productive stretch for another experienced featherweight who had been finding his finishing touch.

A different impression after three decision fights

Pitbull’s first three UFC appearances had all reached the judges. He lost to Yair Rodriguez, beat Dan Ige and then lost to Pico. Those results left him searching for the kind of performance that had made him a champion in two weight classes under the Bellator banner.

In his interview inside the Octagon, Pitbull acknowledged that those outings had fallen short of his expectations. He apologized for the earlier performances and said he now felt more comfortable dealing with the pressure of fighting in the UFC. Calling the Choi bout his real debut was his way of expressing that change, rather than a literal account of his arrival.

His UFC record now contains four very different nights:

• Rodriguez and Pico handed him decision defeats, exposing the difficulty of the move into a new promotion.
• The decision over Ige supplied his first UFC win and kept him moving forward between those setbacks.
• Choi became his first UFC knockout victim, giving him a finish to build on as well as an even promotional record.

Pitbull also used the interview to ask for Jean Silva. The challenge followed a performance strong enough to draw attention, but it remained a request from the winner; the post-fight announcement did not establish a booked matchup between the two Brazilians.

The immediate change is easier to measure than any future matchmaking. Pitbull has moved to 2-2 in the UFC, produced a finish against an in-form opponent and shown that he can carry his power into sustained combinations. After the frustration of the Pico loss, he leaves Los Angeles with a performance that gives his next appearance a firmer starting point.