Patricio Pitbull “hasn’t really hit his stride in the UFC”, says ex-foe

Patricio Pitbull aims to advance beyond a .500 record in the UFC this weekend, and a former foe of Pitbull has weighed in on that looming contest.

On Saturday, the former two-division Bellator MMA champion will clash with a former two-division Oktagon MMA titleholder in Losene Keita at UFC Paris on September 6th. Jeremy Kennedy is the former Pitbull opponent in question, and ‘JBC’ battles Jeremy Henry for the Battlefield Fight League interim lightweight title at BFL 84 on September 4th.

Kennedy appeared on MMA Canada, and his prior history with Patricio Pitbull fighting for the Bellator MMA featherweight belt came up during the chat. When referencing that in the context of the Canadian combatant’s thoughts on Freire’s upcoming fight with Losene Keita at this weekend’s UFC Fight Night offering, Kennedy said,

“Yeah, I would say, I think; I mean every time Pitbull now since my fight I’m like ah, he’s getting to that point, you know. He’s still getting it done obviously against Dan [Ige] the last one, but I just think that youth is slowly starting to catch up, you know.”

“[Losene] Keita, I think will just be too much for him, too powerful for him, and I mean Pitbull hasn’t really hit his stride in the UFC. At his age and at this stage in his career, I don’t really see him rejuvenating himself too much. I think we’re going to see the same kind of Pitbull we’ve been seeing and I just don’t know if that’s enough to get the job done.”

Patricio Pitbull and his UFC run so far

Patricio Pitbull has had his entire UFC tenure play out in 2025, and he is having a fairly active opening campaign with this being his third octagon outing of the calendar year. Freire’s debut in the UFC came in April and saw him fall short to a former interim UFC featherweight champion. In a bit of an inauspicious debut showing, Patricio Pitbull would lose on points to Yair Rodriguez at UFC 314.

Freire would not remain on the sidelines for long, though, as he then went on to fight in July and earn his first UFC victory in the process. At UFC 318 in July, Pitbull would garner a unanimous decision win over Dan Ige and now stands poised for his third UFC outing in the coming days with a 1-1 octagon-specific ledger so far.