Lot brawl fallout: Alex Pereira’s coach dragged into fight, Patricky Pitbull suspended

Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images

Plinio Cruz, the head coach of UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, found himself at the centre of a chaotic parking lot brawl in Miami.

Patricio Pitbull’s move to the UFC in 2025 hasn’t gone smoothly. The former Bellator standout has dropped two of his first three fights and has yet to find any momentum inside the Octagon.

In his most recent appearance, he took on Aaron Pico but came away with injuries that are expected to keep him sidelined for the rest of the year.

That didn’t stop him from getting into a scuffle last Saturday, ahead of what was meant to be his brother Patricky Pitbull’s debut in Karate Combat.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Plinio Cruz tries to break up a wild fight involving Team Pitbull

In the lead-up to his debut, Pitbull and Shahzaib Rind got into it during their pre-fight face-off, which quickly escalated into a bigger scuffle between both teams.

Things didn’t calm down either. On the day of the fight, Rind and his team reportedly showed up at the fighter hotel with water guns, leading to another confrontation that spilt out into the car park.

That’s when things really got out of hand. Both sides started throwing punches and kicks, and it quickly turned into an all-out brawl involving multiple fighters.

During the melee, Patricky took a punch that left him bleeding, and in the confusion, he even shot for a takedown on one of his own teammates.

With several fighters now tangled on the ground, grappling, Alex Pereira’s coach, Plinio Cruz, stepped in to try to bring some order and put a stop to the chaos.

Pitbull ended up with a cut over his eye and was pulled from the fight by the Florida State Athletic Commission, which also suspended several others involved in the incident.