Julio Arce enters the PFL cage for the first time this Saturday in Pittsburgh to battle undefeated featherweight prospect Alexei Pergande, a challenge that comes almost exactly two years after Arce’s tumultuous departure from the UFC.
Arce completed his contract with the UFC with a second-round knockout over Herbert Burns after missing weight for a bout at UFC Atlantic City in March 2024, and waited in the dark for many months not knowing whether the promotion would offer him another deal. As it turns out, it didn’t.
“It was like a seven to eight month wait so then you just don’t know what’s happening,” Arce told MMA Fighting. “I’m seeing fights play out and I’m like, ‘Alright, give me somebody.’ But again, you don’t really know. I don’t know how the negotiations go behind the scenes when your contract is up, if they want to give you a chance to match or whatever.”
Arce won six of 10 bouts in the UFC against names such as Dan Ige and Julian Erosa. He’s happy with his tenure in the promotion, but left with a sour taste in his mouth.
“Honestly, that was the only little frustrating part because I know there’s, like, a whole wait period there,” Arce said. “If you could just be like, ‘Hey, we don’t want to continue.’ You could have just told me right there. But I think it’s just the waiting and not really knowing what was going on. You’re like, ‘Okay, am I gonna fight? Am I still with you guys? Am I done? What is it that is going on?’
“Again, I’m very simple person. If you’re like, ‘Hey, we’re going to part ways,’ I’d be like, ‘Cool.’ Look, they were great to me. Everyone on the staff was great. I fought many names over there, it was great experience. It’s just how it ended, it just kept me in the lull because I’m like, ‘Am I able to fight somewhere else? Am I still under contract?’ You know how it is.”
Once he was finally given clarity that his UFC journey was over, Arce immediately went shopping for a new deal. Arce signed with Victory Fighting League and beat fellow UFC veteran Sheymon Moraes in his debut in August 2025, then knocked out Wilson Reis less than three months later.
On a three-fight winning streak again for the fist time since his UFC start, Arce inked a contract with PFL.
“I was actually preparing to get signed and do the tournament,” Arce said. “That would have been so much fun, the experience that my teammate Shane Burgos did, but then I think they just rearranged everything. And regardless, I’m glad to be part of the promotion and get to fight.”
The PFL featherweight title is currently vacant and Arce knows “I got a bunch of people ahead of me.” That said, he enters the roster driven to “work my way up to a title shot and become a champion.”
“I think everything depends on how they choose to arrange everything,” Arce said when asked if he could earn the chance for the belt with a victory over Pergande. “The belt is vacant. I know everyone depending on their wins and they’re getting matched up accordingly. It’s still kind like tournament based, but just bracket elimination to see who’s going to end up fighting for the title — and I’m looking for that to be me.”
Pergande is a “young prospect coming in hot and ready to go,” Arce said of the 24-year-old featherweight, who holds a perfect 7-0 record as a professional with all seven bouts taking place under the PFL umbrella, and “that excites me.”
“Any opponent placed in front of me is a tough opponent because in this sport, anything can happen,” Arce said. “He could be a young prospect, but he could have been doing other stuff well for a long time to build him to this type of prospect. Whatever it is, he’s the next tough challenge in front of me and come take that challenge down and then move on up.”
“It doesn’t really matter how, we look to leave there with our hand raised in victory,” he added. “Either we have to make this a dog fight, we would have to knockout or submission, you know? Two dangerous fighters getting in there, anything’s bound to happen, but I’m looking to just come out with my hand raised up in the air and moving on to the next challenge. Work my way up to that title.”
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