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Bellator MMA

It's an incredible accomplishment for any fighter to become a world champion. That Patricio Pitbull is on his third reign as featherweight champion and previously held the lightweight title is nearly mind-blowing. It also cements him as the greatest fighter in Bellator history. That is not enough for Pitbull, however, as he now is aiming to win a world title in a third weight class when he challenges Sergio Pettis for the bantamweight crown at Bellator 297 on Friday night.

To win five world titles across three weight classes is such an unheard of accomplishment that it would place Pitbull in a unique position in modern mixed martial arts. Pitbull would be one of the very rare fighters who could be considered one of his era's greatest fighters without ever setting foot in the UFC's famed Octagon.

Pitbull has been a staple of Bellator through ownership changes and multiple television deals, providing a stable face at the top of the card even as new waves of top talent have crashed onto the Bellator roster again and again. Friday will be Pitbull's 29th time representing Bellator -- one of those fights at December's Bellator vs. RIZIN event -- since making his promotional debut in April 2010.

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That longevity at the top of the game is almost as impressive as his many world titles. Many fighters either experience brief, brilliant peaks -- think Conor McGregor entering the UFC in April 2013 and having his last major win in November 2016 -- or are longtime members of a major roster but with only a small portion of their careers at the championship level.

By contrast, Pitbull entered Bellator and immediately fought in tournaments with men like former EliteXC champion and future UFC title challenger Wilson Reis, and future Bellator champions Daniel Straus and Joe Warren. After winning two of three tournaments, Pitbull won his first Bellator title in September 2014 with a win over Pat Curran. Since then, only two of Pitbull's official Bellator fights have been non-title fights. That's a run of 15 title fights with 12 wins.

Despite all these accomplishments, Pitbull plying his trade outside the UFC leads to him being routinely overlooked by fans and media alike.

Speaking with the Trocacao Franca podcast in May, Pitbull addressed that perceived lack of respect and the idea that being the first fighter ever to win world titles in three weight classes in a major MMA organization would make his case as one of MMA's greats impossible to ignore.

"I stopped thinking about that a long time ago," Pitbull said. "I have a lot of submissions, I have a lot of knockouts, I've been fighting overseas since 2010, and I was never the 'Submission of the Year,' I was never the 'Knockout of the Year,' the 'Athlete of the Year.' I think media has been ignoring me a bit, but my results don't depend on what the media thinks.

"Some people might think I'm upset with that, that I'm not being valued, but I have an organization that values me, that does everything it can. An excellent platform. [Bellator] has plans to come to Brazil now and they definitely will. I do it for my legacy. Maybe global sports media still doesn't recognize me after I win this title, but it will be hard to explain in the history of the sport how that guy won three belts in different divisions and you didn't see, you didn't notice. It will be on them. I'm not worried."

A win over Pettis would set up a clash with Patchy Mix, who won the interim bantamweight title when he defeated Raufeon Stots in the finals of the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix earlier in the year.

A fight with Mix would be another big test for Pitbull against another rising young star and another opportunity to once again prove his quality as one of the best fighters of his era.