For Choi Doo-ho, this fight was supposed to be more than a win-or-loss result. It was a chance to turn a strong return run into something bigger, to re-enter the UFC conversation after years outside the rankings and to prove he could still belong with the division’s most recognizable names. Patrício Pitbull made sure that conversation did not get very far.
At UFC 331 in Los Angeles, Choi suffered a first-round TKO loss to Pitbull on the 20th Korean time. It was a sharp ending to a matchup that had already carried weight before the opening bell. Choi had named Pitbull as his next opponent after defeating Daniel Toss in May, and he had been open about the value of beating a legend. That ambition now runs into a hard reality: Pitbull, even in a UFC run that had started with one win and two losses in 2025, was still the more decisive force when the fight mattered most.
The loss matters because Choi was not just fighting for a result. He was fighting for a ranking opportunity. After being removed from the rankings in July 2018, he had been trying to climb back toward the UFC top 15, the place he once approached when he reached as high as 11th in November 2016. A first-round finish does not just interrupt that climb; it resets it.
That is what makes the result sting beyond the immediate disappointment. Choi had come back in 2023 and put together an unbeaten run of three wins and one draw, a stretch that suggested momentum and a possible second act. He also had reason to feel confident. Before the fight, he said he believed Pitbull would not last until a decision, and he insisted he had trained as if every bout might be his last. But the sport can be unforgiving when the margin between belief and execution is small. Against an opponent described as a legendary Bellator fighter with titles in two divisions, the opening round was enough to shut the door.
There was also symbolism in the weigh-in at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, where both men came in at 66.2 kg, or 66 kg for the official listing. Choi had wanted to show something in front of Korean fans in LA, and he had spoken about representing his country with the pride of a national team member. Instead, the night became a reminder that reputation alone does not carry a fighter back into the top 15. The route back has to be earned again, and that process just became longer.
For Patricio Pitbull, the win offers a more useful kind of momentum. For Choi Doo-ho, it is a setback with a clear cost: the chance to re-enter the UFC rankings is still out of reach, and the path back now looks steeper than it did before he stepped into the cage.
