5 Things You Might Not Know About Jesus Pinedo

The degree of difficulty could not be more severe for Jesus Pinedo.

The 26-year-old Puente Piedra, Peru, native will take aim at defending Professional Fighters League featherweight champion Brendan Loughnane when their regular-season showdown headlines PFL 4 on Thursday at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. Pinedo enters the cage with wins four of his previous five bouts. However, he finds himself on the rebound following a contentious split decision defeat to Gabriel Braga in his promotional debut at PFL 1 on April 1.

As Pinedo moves ever closer to his forthcoming battle with Loughnane at 145 pounds, here are five things you might not know about him:

1. His handlers bought into the baptism-by-fire approach.

Pinedo made his professional debut less than a month after he turned 17, as he put away Luigi Dapello with first-round punches at a regional show on July 17, 2013. He went on to fight 14 times as a teenager, compiling a respectable 9-4-1 record in those bouts.

2. His name carries some acclaim.

“El Mudo” has captured titles in the 300 Sparta and Inka Fighting Championship organizations. Pinedo laid claim to the IFC featherweight crown when he submitted Joackim Pedro Neto Ferreira with a guillotine choke in the first round of their February 2018 encounter and took home the 300 Sparta featherweight title when he wiped out Cosmo Alexandre with second-round punches some four months later.

3. The pursuit of preparation does not take him far from home.

Pinedo trains under Ivan Iberico at the Pitbull Martial Arts Center in Lima, Peru—the same gym that gave rise to “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” Season 3 lightweight finalist Claudio Puelles.

4. Potent weaponry makes him a proficient finisher.

The Peruvian holds the rank of black belt in luta livre, and he has put those time-honored skills to use. Pinedo has procured 15 of his 20 professional victories (75%) by knockout, technical knockout or submission, 12 of them inside one round.

5. He showed he could compete at the highest level.

Pinedo held his own during a two-fight stint in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He outpointed Devin Powell to a unanimous decision across three rounds at UFC Fight Night 140 on Nov. 17, 2018, then wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous verdict against John Makdessi at UFC Fight Night 148 on March 23, 2019.