Portuguese-British heavyweight Mario Pinto would rather gain more experience than rush into premature opportunities with the UFC or PFL.
Pinto is currently 7-0 since turning professional in 2021, most recently finishing Benjamin Sehic in late October.
The bout with Sehic saw the 25-year-old become the LFL heavyweight champion, his first title as a pro.
According to Tapology, Pinto is currently the best regional heavyweight fighter in the UK and Ireland. Although, he does not want to rush into big opportunities this early on in his career.
He said: “I want to get more experience – definitely want to compete more. [I want] to get a bit more experience, more problem-solving.
“I understand within this game it’s unpredictable and sometimes you shouldn’t miss your chance. I’ve been told I should try to go to big shows now [like] UFC or PFL, but like what’s the rush?
“You know you can go there and get paid, [it’s] okay for your first fight but then you get fed to a shark. And that one loss you take can derail your whole career.”
Pinto Describes How British MMA Can Keep Growing
MMA in the UK has endured great success recently, with Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall currently holding UFC gold. These successes don’t account for the countless prospects in major promotions across the world too.
Arnold Allen is highly ranked in the UFC featherweight division, while Dakota Ditcheva and Simeon Powell are in the PFL Europe finals.
Pinto, who proudly represents the UK despite being a Portuguese native, believes British fighters need to keep helping each other in order to continue the growth.
He said: “To be honest we need to just come together and just help each other. That’s the only way it’s going to get better. We need to come together and work together and just grow – push British MMA and help more British MMA fighters get better.
“But, like remember I represent Portugal! But I definitely represent both because I grew up here and I wouldn’t have been doing MMA without the UK.
“Definitely we need to push British MMA and it shouldn’t be where all the gyms are against each other, ‘You can’t train here, it’s us versus you’. We need to work together to beat up these Americans!”
Mario Pinto Full Exclusive Interview
You can watch the full interview with Pinto below:
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
