Daniel Pineda was released by the UFC in 2014, following back to back losses. He went 8-2 with 2 NCs in LFC, Bellator, Fury FC, and the PFL. On October 17, 2019, he won two fights in one night, making the finals of the 2019 PFL Featherweight Tournament with its $1,000,000 prize, but saw the wins changed to a No Contest and was suspended for six months by the NSAC, after tests showed an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio.
Pineda was re-signed by the UFC at the age of 35 for a short notice fight vs. Herbert Burns at UFC 252 on Aug 15. Then Burns missed weight, missing the featherweight non-title limit by 4.5 pounds. During a recent appearance on the What the Heck podcast, Pineda talked about it all.
As soon as they told me, I said yes, said Pineda to Mike Heck for MMA Fighting. I trained for one week and then I took off to Vegas. Two weeks’ notice. 27 pounds. It sucked. It takes a big toll on your cardio. Cutting all this weight, it just drains your cardio. I was, already, not in good shape because it was only two weeks and when you have to cut 27 pounds, it’s like, s***.
I wish their camp would’ve told me, ‘Let’s do a catchweight at 150.’ Those five pounds count a lot. If they told me to do a catchweight at 150, I would’ve been like, ‘Nice.’ Screw his money. Let me know so I don’t have to make weight. Every fighter will tell you those last five pounds hurt the most. I guess he knows because he didn’t freakin make weight.
Burns was a -282 favorite. But Pineda won, so he got his show and win purse, plus an additional $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus. Pineda told Heck he was aware of the odds.
Oh yeah. Big time, said Pineda. I sneak a peek but I knew it because a lot of my people were like, ‘Oh, we’re betting this much money on you,’ and I was like, ‘Why don’t you put some pressure on me, you bastard.’
It’s a lot of pressure when someone tells you how much they’re putting on you. I’m happy, I like being the underdog. I like to prove people wrong. I was the underdog in the PFL. I was a +700-something. When I started with Herbert Burns, I was a +400-something. I wish it would’ve stayed there and made more money.
His friends made bank. Pineda was asked what the biggest single payout was in his circle?
$100,000, answered the fighter. Another guy won, I think, $84,000. Vegas hates us. I was like, ‘I’ll take 10 percent of whatever y’all make.’ They’re all gonna take me out to eat and I’m gonna get fat. Those were the two biggest ones. Other people were like, $10,000, $16,000, $20,000. But it’s crazy.
In total, the payout was over $250,000.
A lot more, said Pineda. I was such an underdog and the people that I train with, they know that there’s no quit in me. You’re gonna have to knock me out or put me to sleep to stop me. I don’t just stop. So anytime we’re in a fight, we’re just gonna keep on fighting. We’re gonna see who has more heart.
But you know they were all nervous when he took my back, they were like, ‘Oh, s***!’
Pineda survived the submission attempt and came back to win via elbows in Round 2
It felt great. It felt like those two weeks were so long,” he said. “Your first fight back, you’re such an underdog, everyone thinks you’re gonna get demolished, all these people talking s***, I love to prove people wrong. I love it. And the hype train they had, it just crashed in the road.
