Two of the PFL’s 2022 season winners will take their first steps toward hope of a repeat in April.
The promotion’s first event of the 2023 regular season is set for April 1 at The Theater at Virgin Hotels (the former Hard Rock Hotel Casino) in Las Vegas. Featherweights and light heavyweights will be on the card for their first matchups of the two-fight regular season. The event will have a main card on ESPN and ESPN Deportes following prelims on ESPN+.
[autotag]Brendan Loughnane[/autotag] (26-4), the 2022 featherweight winner, will be at the top of the bill in a matchup against [autotag]Marlon Moraes[/autotag] (23-11-1), the PFL announced Thursday. In the co-feature, 2022 light heavyweight winner [autotag]Rob Wilkinson[/autotag] (17-2) will take on [autotag]Thiago Santos[/autotag] (22-11).
Other matchups on the main card include 2021 season winner [autotag]Movlid Khaybulaev[/autotag] (19-0-1) vs. [autotag]Ryoji Kudo[/autotag] (11-4-1) at featherweight; 2022 runner-up [autotag]Bubba Jenkins[/autotag] (19-6) vs. former finalist [autotag]Chris Wade[/autotag] (22-8) at featherweight; and [autotag]Omari Akhmedov[/autotag] (24-8-1) vs. [autotag]Will Fleury[/autotag] (11-3) at light heavyweight.
“The 2023 PFL regular season is shaping up for our best season yet, and I’m excited to watch our featherweight and light heavyweight divisions compete on April 1,” PFL president Ray Sefo said in a news release. “From returning PFL world champions to league debuts from MMA stars, fight fans across the world are in for a treat starting with PFL 1 in Las Vegas.”
The PFL’s second and third events of the 2023 regular season take place April 7 and April 14 from Las Vegas, as well.
Loughnane knocked out Jenkins in the fourth round this past November to win the 2022 featherweight season. He beat Kudo and Ago Huskic in the regular season, then beat Wade in the postseason semifinals. He has won 11 of 12 overall, including his $1 million finish of Jenkins.
Moraes will be looking to turn his career around. The former UFC bantamweight lost a vacant title shot against Henry Cejudo in June 2019, but rebounded with a win over former UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo later that year. After that, though, it’s been a struggle. He was knocked out in four straight fights by Cory Sandhagen, Rob Font, Merab Dvalishvili and Song Yadong and found himself outside the UFC by mid-2022. In his PFL debut this past November in a move to featherweight, he was stopped in the third round by a Sheymon Moraes TKO in a showcase fight.
Wilkinson hasn’t lost in five years – and it happened to be the UFC debut of future middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who knocked him out in the second round in Wilkinson’s native Australia. Since then, Wilkinson has won six straight, including his first four in the PFL in 2022 on his way to a TKO over Akhmedov to win the light heavyweight title this past November. All four of his PFL wins came by knockout or TKO.
Santos, a former UFC title challenger, has dropped five of his past six starting with his 205-pound title shot against Jon Jones in July 2019, which he lost by split decision. After that, he lost to eventual champion Glover Teixeira, then Aleksandar Rakic. He rebounded with a win over Johnny Walker in October 2021 before a loss to Magomed Ankalaev in March 2022 and a fourth-round TKO setback to new champ Jamahal Hill in August 2022. His fight with Wilkinson will be his PFL debut after nearly 10 years and 24 fights with the UFC.
The 2023 PFL 1 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN)
- Brendan Loughnane vs. Marlon Moraes – featherweight regular season
- Robert Wilkinson vs. Thiago Santos – light heavyweight regular season
- Movlid Khaybulaev vs. Ryoji Kudo – featherweight regular season
- Bubba Jenkins vs. Chris Wade – featherweight regular season
- Omari Akhmedov vs. Will Fleury – light heavyweight regular season
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+)
- Krzysztof Jotko vs. TBA – light heavyweight regular season
- Mohammed Fakhreddine vs. Marthin Hamlet – light heavyweight regular season
- Sam Kei vs. Josh Silveira – light heavyweight regular season
- Alejandro Flores vs. Daniel Torres – featherweight regular season
- Sung Bin Jo vs. TBA – featherweight regular season