Professional Fighters League (PFL) News

Drake Riggs - August 19, 2021

Lightweights Kayla Harrison and Genah Fabian battled it out in the main event of PFL 8 to advance to the finals and a shot at a million dollars. To reach the semifinals, the former two-time Olympic Judo gold medalist and PFL champion in Harrison dispatched of Mariana Morais and Cindy Dandois in effortless fashion. New Zealand’s Fabian, on the other hand, picked up a unanimous decision win over Laura Sanchez before finishing Julija Pajic via strikes in round two.

Drake Riggs - August 17, 2021

The 2021 PFL season could be Kayla Harrison’s last. A two-time Olympic Judo gold medalist, Harrison has had no issues whatsoever transitioning the world of MMA. Even before she amassed a 10-0 record, fans and pundits alike pondered what it might be like seeing her take on the very best the sport has to offer – perhaps next year could be when we find out.

Drake Riggs - August 16, 2021

Kayla Harrison calls it as she sees it. The PFL held a media call over Zoom on Monday to promote this weekend’s upcoming event headlined by Harrison and New Zealand’s Genah Fabian. The winner will advance to the playoff finals for their opportunity at 1 million dollars against either Larissa Pacheco or Taylor Guardado.

Adam D Martin - August 12, 2021

Boxer-turned-MMA fighter Claressa Shields will make her second walk to the PFL cage later this year when she faces a promotional newcomer. The Washington Post revealed that Shields will take on Abigail Montes at the PFL Championship on Wednesday, October 27. Montes is 2-0 as a professional MMA fighter and is just 21 years old. She has previously competed in the Combate Americas and iFF organizations in her native Mexico, where she has defeated both of her opponents.

Drake Riggs - August 2, 2021

Russia’s Marina Mokhnatkina is on her way to the PFL. After achieving everything she could in Sambo, her intentions are clear: conquer MMA. Mokhnatkina made the move to Florida’s Sanford MMA in February 2021 after initially negotiating with the neighboring American Top Team. The male-dominated gym originally greeted the 33-year old with skepticism, but she was quickly welcomed after her skills were displayed. Now, Mokhnatkina is the lone woman training at the gym daily.

Adam D Martin - July 29, 2021

Welterweight contender Ray Cooper III blasted MMA judges ahead of the PFL semifinals, saying “they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.” The winner of the $1 million grand prize in the PFL season two welterweight tournament, Cooper takes on Rory MacDonald in the semifinals of the promotion’s third season in August. The only reason the bracket is the way it is is that MacDonald lost a controversial split decision to Gleison Tibau in his second regular-season fight. It was an extremely controversial call by the judges, and MacDonald has publicly blasted the judges himself. Now, his opponent Cooper is coming to his defense as well following the bad decision.

Drake Riggs - July 28, 2021

The PFL has added to their 155-pound weight class as they begin looking ahead to the 2022 season. Made official on Wednesday, the promotion announced that they have signed the likes of former 145-pound featherweight competitors Marina Mokhnatkina and Martina Jindrova.

Adam D Martin - July 21, 2021

A welterweight matchup pitting Rory MacDonald vs. Ray Cooper III is among the newly-announced PFL season three playoff semifinal matchups. PFL announced the complete list of its season three semifinal bouts this week on its social media, with three events scheduled to take place on August 13, August 19, and August 27.

Adam D Martin - June 29, 2021

MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz says that his client, PFL women’s lightweight star Kayla Harrison, is “Ronda Rousey 6.0.” Harrison is currently running through the field in the PFL season three women’s lightweight tournament and looks to be one of the best female fighters in the sport right now. A former Olympic gold medalist in judo, Harrison’s MMA career has always — fairly or unfairly — been compared to Rousey’s since she was also an Olympic gold medal judoka before turning over to mixed martial arts. Since making the transition to MMA in 2018, Harrison is a perfect 10-0 in MMA with eight wins by stoppage. She has been dominating everyone in her weight class, and she doesn’t appear to be on the verge of losing any time soon.

Chris Taylor - June 25, 2021

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis needed to finish Raush Manfio this evening at PFL 6 if he hoped to advance to the 155lbs playoffs. Pettis (24-12 MMA) had made his PFL debut this past April where he was upset by Clay Collard via unanimous decision. The loss, which snapped a two-fight winning streak for ‘Showtime‘, had forced Anthony into a must-win and must-finish situation this evening in Atlantic City.

Chris Taylor - June 25, 2021

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will need to finish Raush Manfio this evening at PFL 6 if he hopes to advance to the 155lbs playoffs. Pettis (24-11 MMA) made his PFL debut this past April where he was upset by Clay Collard via unanimous decision. The loss, which snapped a two-fight winning streak for ‘Showtime‘, has forced Anthony into a must-win and must-finish situation this evening in Atlantic City.

Adam D Martin - June 23, 2021

Boxer-turned-MMA fighter Claressa Shields returns to the PFL cage in August when she competes for the second time in mixed martial arts. Shields made her MMA debut earlier this month when she finished Brittany Elkin via third-round TKO for a successful first foray into mixed martial arts. It wasn’t an easy fight for Shields, who struggled with her takedown defense for the first two rounds of the fight as Elkin dominated her on the mat. However, Shields was able to conserve her gas tank, and when Elkin started to get tired in the third round of the fight, Shields started to unload massive ground and pound on her opponent and pick up the first win of her MMA career.

Adam Martin - June 20, 2021

Former UFC lightweight contender Gleison Tibau admitted that it was a “big surprise” for him that he defeated Rory MacDonald in PFL. Tibau earned one of the biggest upsets of the year so far in MMA when he won a controversial split decision over MacDonald at PFL 5 last Thursday in New Jersey. The decision was extremely controversial, with many fans and media declaring it a “robbery” after two of the three judges scored the bout in favor of the Brazilian. Most thought that MacDonald did enough to win at least two of the three rounds and earn the decision, but the judges had other plans as they awarded the longtime UFC veteran Tibau the decision.

Adam D Martin - June 18, 2021

Rory MacDonald reacted following the “clear robbery” in his PFL 5 fight with Gleison Tibau, saying “I think that this should be looked into.” MacDonald was competing in PFL for the second time following a submission win over Curtis Millender in his promotional debut in April. Against Tibau, MacDonald used a game plan of sticking and moving on the outside to outpoint Tibau and take home a decision. He also used his grappling in the first round effectively. However, when the judges’ scorecards were read after the three rounds, it was Tibau winning the split decision, not MacDonald.

Harry Kettle - June 18, 2021

The scorecards from the three judges scoring Rory MacDonald vs Gleison Tibau last night have been released to the public. PFL 5 is officially in the books and while we may know the four welterweight contenders who will progress through to the playoffs, the process of learning who would go through certainly didn’t come easily.

Harry Kettle - June 18, 2021

Multiple MMA fighters reacted on social media after Gleison Tibau pulled off an upset win over Rory MacDonald at PFL 5 last night. The two men battled it out as part of the final push towards the welterweight playoffs in the PFL. The overwhelming expectation heading into the bout was that MacDonald would blow the doors off of Tibau and while it wasn’t quite so convincing, many did believe he was the one who should have his hand raised.

Adam D Martin - June 17, 2021

PFL star Claressa Shields says she wants to be the Bo Jackson of MMA and boxing, saying that “I believe I am the greatest woman of all time.” Jackson was an incredible two-sport athlete who is still the only person to ever be named to a Pro Bowl team in the NFL and an All-Star team in MLB. Many consider Jackson to be one of the greatest athletes who ever lived, and many athletes have come up behind him who have wanted to accomplish what he did, which is being great at two professional sports. Of course, it’s hard enough to be an elite athlete in one sport, but Jackson proved you can be elite in two, and that’s exactly what Shields is hoping to do herself.

Drake Riggs - June 14, 2021

Claressa Shields made a successful MMA debut this past Thursday night at PFL 4. The 26-year old Flint, Michigan native is 11-0 as a professional boxer with two Olympic gold medals to her name. Shields now comfortably gets ready to build some momentum in her new sport.