Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information
and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and
portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into
the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories
behind those numbers.
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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS: 911
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 100
The company now known as
Professional Fighters League celebrated its 100th event in
combined
World Series of Fighting and PFL history.
Starting off the second leg of the 2023 regular season, the
promotion trotted out the remnants of its featherweight and light
heavyweight divisions, with those weight classes losing seven
competitors for drug test failures.
PFL 4: 2023 Regular Season ended as one of its most
finish-heavy shows in years while featuring a stunning upset for a
huge favorite and a not-so-fond farewell to a former champ.
Rare for Majors to Reach 100: PFL 4: 2023 Regular Season served as
the organization’s 100th event since its first show in 2012. The
league staged 35 WSOF cards, three under the PFL name prior to its
tournaments, 16 in the Challenger Series, one in Europe, and the
remainder in yearly grands prix. WSOF-GC also ran seven shows under
another banner that do not factor in.
Violent Night at the Overtime Elite: The fight card wrapped with
nine of 12 bouts ending inside the distance. This 75% finish rate
for a show is the highest for any in PFL with at least 10 fights
since the second event of the first regular season back in
2018.
Hype Train on Ice: In the main attraction,
Jesus
Pinedo wiped out 2022 champ
Brendan
Loughnane in 94 seconds with a knee and follow-up punches. In
doing so, Pinedo not only qualified himself for the playoffs in the
No. 4 seed, but he ejected both Loughnane and four-time
semifinalist
Chris Wade
from contention.
Mudo Madness: By scorching Loughnane, “El Mudo” boosted his finish
rate as a pro to 76%. He has seen all five of his last wins end by
knockout within two rounds.
Chalky till the End: The first 11 matches of PFL 4 saw the betting
favorite win, with two -1400 favorites and three others at -1000
all prevailing. The main event, however, saw +500 Pinedo dispatch
Loughnane (-900) to record the biggest betting upset in the PFL
since
Larissa
Pacheco at +550 odds beat -800
Kayla
Harrison in November 2022.
Rivaling Amosov: To boost his pro record to 21-0-1 (1 NC),
Movlid
Khaybulaev throttled
Tyler
Diamond with an arm-triangle choke in Round 2. The Dagestan
native secure the no. 3 seed by procuring his first stoppage win in
the PFL ranks since his 10-second flying knee of
Damon
Jackson over four years ago.
Bad Man, Good Choke: Claiming the top featherweight spot,
Bubba
Jenkins put
Sung Bin Jo
to sleep with a rear-naked choke. The fighter known as “I’m a Bad
Man” has performed four submissions as a pro, and they have all
come by RNC in Round 1.
Rough Way to Get a Quick Six: With
Delan Monte
suffering a knee injury just 90 seconds into their bout,
Joshua
Silveira earned another six points to sit atop the light
heavyweight leaderboard with the maximum number of 12. Ten of
Silveira’s 11 pro wins have come before the final bell.
Those Screams Were Haunting: Monte’s knee injury accounts for the
seventh injury stoppage since PFL tournaments began back in 2018.
All but one – an arm injury for
Rick Story in
2018 – occurred in the opening frame.
It Seemed Inevitable: Lifting his record to a shiny 11-0,
Gabriel
Braga thumped
Marlon
Moraes in the first round to also reach the playoffs. It was
the first time in five fights where the Brazilian had not gone the
distance.
The Magic is Gone: Earning his seventh straight loss – all by
knockout – Moraes decided to hang up his gloves. The former WSOF
bantamweight champion started his tenure with the company by
stringing together 11 wins, and he still remains one of the
winningest fighters in company history. Coming back to the PFL,
“Magic” dropped three in a row.
Took the Wrong Medicine: After missing weight by 5.2 pounds,
Ty
Flores picked up a decision over
Dan Spohn. The
two points he earned – “Bad Medicine” lost one for coming in heavy
– were enough to take the fourth seed at 205 pounds. Each of his
last five victories have come at the hands of the judges.
The End of an Institution: In five seasons of PFL tournaments, this
year is the first where Wade did not make the playoffs. The former
lightweight strangled
Ryoji Kudo
with a guillotine choke, but his six-point finish came slower than
Pinedo’s knockout to bump him out of the postseason.
There’s Always Next Year: While his 2023 campaign may be over for
now, Wade did enter into his 18th fight on the roster overall. This
places him with the second-most bouts in company history, trailing
only
Lance
Palmer’s 22.
Moral Victory: Notching win no. 11 as a PFL fighter, Wade became
the seventh competitor in the history of the promotion to exceed 10
victories. Palmer also holds that top spot with 16.
One and Done Right: Having earned a contract on the seventh episode
of the Challenger Series in March,
Impa
Kasanganay made the most of his lone opportunity to earn points
by claiming five off of a submission win over
Tim Caron.
“Tshilobo” stepped over Flores, who had two decision victories, due
to his stoppage.
Never Say Never Again: Coming into 2023 PFL 4, Loughnane (30
fights), Diamond (14 fights) and Jo (12 fights) had never been
finished; Caron had never competed at light heavyweight (19 fights)
and
Abigail
Montes had never seen a fight end in Round 1 (five fights).