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Brett Okamoto
UFC featherweight Patricio Pitbull has refused to face Losene Keita at UFC Fight Night on Saturday, after Keita missed weight by three pounds on Friday in Paris.
Pitbull, 38, made no secret he refused to accept any agreement of a catchweight, once Keita missed. The contest was booked on relatively short notice, but Pitbull claimed his younger opponent should have had a far easier time making the weight than he did, as Keita lives and trains in Europe while Pitbull is based in Brazil.
“He said in an interview he was faster, stronger and younger,” said Pitbull, in a video posted to UFC Brasil. “I gave him all the advantages besides allowing this fight to happen here in Paris. He drove two hours to get here, so there was no suffering. His weight was low, he got here at 165 [pounds] just like I did.
“I’m absolutely sure he didn’t try [to cut the weight]. At 9 a.m., he weighed-in, he was over, and instead of trying until 11 a.m., which is the [time] limit, he was eating baby food. F— you, man. If you want to blame anyone, blame my opponent.”
Keita, 27, was meant to be making his UFC debut. He offered a public apology for missing weight on Friday.
“For the first time in 25 fights, I failed to make weight, and it had to happen on my UFC debut,” he wrote on X. “I wanted to continue and would have given everything to make weight, but my body didn’t want to. I sincerely apologize to my fans. I will be back, like every time I fall in life.”
Pitbull (37-8) is a former longtime Bellator MMA champion. He signed with the UFC earlier this year and has already fought twice in 2025. He has asked the UFC to rebook him on its UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 11 in Rio de Janeiro.