The first
Professional Fighters League card of the year is a pay-per-view
pitting the PFL's best against
Bellator
MMA fighters.
The
PFL vs. Bellator Champs card is headlined by an intriguing
heavyweight battle between
Renan
Ferreira and
Ryan Bader.
The stakes are major as the winner will face
Francis
Ngannou in his promotional debut. All fighters made weight,
although there was a late cancellation as
Gabriel
Braga versus
Patricio
Freire is off after Braga was ruled unable to compete, per the
promotion.
Ferreira (12-3, 3 NC) lived up to his "Problema" nickname by
winning the 2023 PFL season with impressive knockouts over
Denis
Goltsov,
Maurice
Greene and
Matheus
Scheffel. The Brazilian's last defeat came in 2022 to
Ante Delija.
Meanwhile, Bader (31-7, 1 NC) is also on a three-fight win streak,
having notched title defenses against
Valentin
Moldavsky,
Cheick Kongo
and
Fedor
Emelianenko. "Darth" will make his PFL debut at the age of
40.
The PFL vs. Bellator Champs event will stream on ESPN+
pay-per-view. Prelim fights begin at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT, while
the pay-per-view kicks off at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT.
PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-in Results:
Renan
Ferreira (263.2) vs.
Ryan Bader
(231.1)
Impa
Kasanganay (185.8) vs.
Johnny
Eblen (185.5)
Ray
Cooper III (182) vs.
Jason
Jackson (182.1)
Bruno
Cappelozza (236.2) vs.
Vadim
Nemkov (238.1)
Thiago
Santos (205.2) vs.
Yoel Romero
(205)
Clay
Collard (155.5) vs.
A.J. McKee
(154.8)
Henry
Corrales (155.7) vs.
Aaron Pico
(155.7)
Biaggio
Ali Walsh (155.4) vs.
Emmanuel
Palacio (152.6)
Claressa
Shields (164.4) vs.
Kelsey De
Santis (164.6)
Abdullah
Al-Qahtani (146) vs.
Edukondal
Rao (145.7)
Malik
Basahel (124.9) vs.
Vinicius
Pereira (129.2)