Danny Sabatello says he could be done fighting after a disappointing result in his Professional Fighters League debut.
Sabatello faced fellow debutant Lazaro Dayron at PFL 8 on Friday, a fight which marked the launch of the promotion’s bantamweight division as well. It was a closely-contested affair, with Lazaro dropping Sabatello in the first round and “The Italian Gangster” answering back with dominant wrestling in the second frame.
While they went toe-to-toe in the final round, a point was deducted from Dayron for a blatant fence grab. However, the fight ended in a controversial majority draw, which has left Sabatello in shock. Without diving into the analysis of their performances, Sabatello believes the point deduction should have been enough to sway the scorecards in his favor.
“I have to go back and look but I don’t see any scenario how he would have won that fight, given they took the point away…And this is huge, this isn’t like a football game,” Sabatello said at the post-fight press conference. “In fighting losses are big. This isn’t a loss, but a draw is a loss in my books. And again this isn’t looking at it as who did better and all that. If you wanna just go by the book, they took a point away, I won that fight. I don’t get this, speechless.
Asked if would want an immediate rematch, Sabatello said he would like to run all the fights back that didn’t go his way. However, Sabatello claims he is unsure if he would even continue fighting here on.
“This is the fight I don’t know if I’m ever gonna fight again,” he said. “I do this s—t to be the best. If that’s my last fight, so be it. I would like that one back, I want them all back… I don’t want to say I ‘am’ done. I am probably done.”
If he does return to action, Sabatello eyes a matchup against Bellator bantamweight champ Patchy Mix, whom he considers the best bantamweight in the world. Sabatello claims Mix would snap the neck of the bantamweight champ of a rival promotion [hinting at UFC title holder Sean O’Malley].
“I see that matchup with Patchy, and there’s more than one way to victory to beat that guy. And he’s the best bantamweight in the world, I don’t care what anybody says,” Sabatello said. “Patchy Mix right now, you have to say he’s the best bantamweight in the world. The other guy in the other promotion, Patchy would take him down and snap his neck. There’s levels to this.”
Sabatello was on a two-fight skid in Bellator MMA and hadn’t fought since November 2023 prior to his PFL debut on Friday. Meanwhile, Dayron’s PFL debut marked the end of an eight-fight winning streak built in regional promotions like Combate Global and Titan FC.
