Dana White sheds light on being convinced to sign Bellator legend Patricio Pitbull for promotional debut against Yair Rodriguez

Dana White put the spotlight on the upcoming Patricio Pitbull vs.Yair Rodriguez fight at UFC 314 in April and what it could mean for the 145-pound division. The UFC figurehead touched on this when speaking with assembled media at the UFC Seattle post-fight press conference.

In video footage provided by MMA Junkie on X, on being asked by an on-site media member if Pitbull might be capable of getting a title shot quicker with a win in his UFC debut over a former interim featherweight champion considering how much time Freire likely has left in his career, White said:

"He's going to get the opportunity now to come in here and challenge himself against the best in the world. No matter where he's at in his career, beating Yair [Rodriguez] is a big deal. So he comes in and he beats Yair, I don't know. Again, like I said before, we'll see how this whole thing plays out. But massive opportunity for him and we're excited to give him it."

Check out Dana White's comments on the Pitbull-Rodriguez situation below:

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Dana White on the vacant featherweight title situation

Discussing the consequential featherweight fight between Patricio Pitbull and Yair Rodriguez Dana White has localized importance with the vacant 145-pound title. The MMA world was taken aback by the news that Ilia Topuria has vacated the featherweight belt and Diego Lopes will now be fighting against former divisional kingpin Alexander Volkanovski for the vacant crown.

The 55-year-old promoter mentioned that Topuria was the driver for vacating the strap and that the surging mixed martial artist felt he had done all that he could do in the weight category.

White stated that he respected Topuria's logic of not wanting to impede the opportunities of UFC's featherweight fighters with the promotional figurehead also theorizing that Topuria may have not liked cutting down to make that weight anymore.

After a follow-up question about if Patricio Pitbull or Yair Rodriguez could be a backup for Diego Lopes vs. Alexander Volkanovski, White mentioned in the footage above how he hates talking about backups and that he hopes neither Pitbull or Rodriguez will be forced to fill a main event vacancy in Miami.

The Connecticut native mentioned how there were still possibilities for Ilia Topuria going forward. Dana White intimated that it's not necessarily a guarantee that Topuria will fight Islam Makhachev next for the UFC lightweight belt.