PFL will crown its first superfight champions on Saturday, and the design for the new belts have arrived.
PFL will crown its first superfight champions on Saturday at PFL: Battle of the Giants, and the design for the new belts have arrived.
The upcoming event at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view and DAZN, featured a doubleheader of former UFC champ [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Renan Ferreira[/autotag] and former UFC/Bellator champ [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] clashing with two-time PFL season winner [autotag]Larissa Pacheco[/autotag].
The contests will crown the inaugural heavyweight and women’s featherweight superfight champions. Each belt will weigh 12.5 pounds, have a tribute to the PFL smart cage and celebrate each respective division in the series, according to the promo video released by PFL on Monday.
Check out the video above to see a close-up look at the new belts above.
Pete Murray is excited to kick off a new format for PFL’s championships.
[autotag]Pete Murray[/autotag] is excited to kick off a new format for PFL’s championships.
Two new superfight belts will be introduced at PFL: Battle of the Giants Oct. 19 at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (ESPN+ pay-per-view, DAZN).
In the main event, former UFC champion Francis Ngannou (17-3) takes on 2023 PFL champion Renan Ferreira (13-3). In the co-main event, Cris Cyborg (27-2-1) will look to collect her fifth belt in a major organization when she faces two-time PFL champion Larissa Pacheco (23-4).
“The PFL superfights belt, first time we as a company and organization have a belt where it must be won, but it also must be defended on an ongoing basis,” Murray told MMA Junkie Radio. “Typically, our global season belts, they recognize those champions for the year, and they’re forever that year’s champion. But this is a different belt, a different format for us. So both Francis and Cris want to be the first ones to raise those belts, but Renan and Larissa, two Brazilians, they’re going to bring it.”
The PFL CEO sees Ferreira and Pacheco as the future of MMA.
“Larissa, two-time PFL champion, women’s 155 then she took on 145,” Murray said. “She’s women’s 145 champion, two belts. She’s fierce, she’s really grown into being a bonafide world champion. She’s wanted this fight for a really long time. So when you think about the GOATs in Francis and in Cris, up against Renan and Larissa, that’s really the future.
“These younger fighters in their prime – again, Francis still in his prime, Cris in her prime, not many can dance with either of them, but they’ve had a storied career, both of them. Renan and Larissa, they’re the future. They’re looking to make their mark now, and they deserve this fight. These are both legitimate opponents for both Francis and Cris.”
Francis Ngannou thinks the moment could be too big for Renan Ferreira.
[autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] thinks the moment could be too big for [autotag]Renan Ferreira[/autotag].
Ngannou (17-3) takes on Ferreira (13-3) in the PFL: Battle of the Giants main event on Oct. 19 at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (ESPN+ pay-per-view, DAZN).
Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou certainly marks the most notable name Ferreira has ever faced, which “The Predator” expects to get to him.
“This has two effects: It can be a lot of pressure for him, or it can really get him in his space,” Ngannou told MMA Junkie. “Usually when people manage the hype, they either overdo it, or handle it properly. It has two effects, he’s excited and he knows this is his ticket for the first class. So yes, (it might be too much).”
Despite Ngannou’s devastating knockout threat, two-time PFL heavyweight champion Ferreira will have both a height and reach advantage. The Brazilian looked amped in their first face-off where he pounded Ngannou’s chest, but Ngannou was unfazed.
“I think it was him being excited for the fight, because regardless, this is a big fight, a massive fight for him,” Ngannou said. “For him, this is his first time at that level. I think he’s being a little excited before getting in the cage for the fight. He’s getting a little pump up in adrenaline that might drop down really quick when we’re going to fight.”
PFL CEO Peter Murray said the plan is to have the winner defend the super fights belt, which Ngannou is open to.
“I still have a couple MMA fights, so obviously it will be good to be the defender (of the title rather) than the challenger,” Ngannou said. “I think there is a lot of people (to defend against), even on the PFL roster – right now or someone that is coming up.
“I remember last year when this contract was signed, Renan Ferreira wasn’t even in the picture, and I was telling people, ‘Watch out for this guy.’ Now he managed to prove to people that he is the guy. He fought like four or five times and won. If I wasn’t in his way, he would’ve continued. But unfortunately, I’m in his way.”
A.J. McKee is closing in on his desired shot at Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov.
[autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] is closing in on his desired shot at Bellator lightweight champion [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag].
But first, McKee (22-1) has to get past Paul Hughes (12-1) at PFL: Battle of the Giants on Oct. 19 at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN+).
McKee thinks him vs. Nurmagomedov (18-0) is the fight to make.
“I think it’s been the fight that everybody’s wanted to see for quite some time now,” McKee told MMA Junkie Radio. “Obviously, myself catching staph through the tournament, something happened with him during the tournament testing wise or whatever, so he went on a little suspension. But we just continue to fight, perfect our craft.
“I can’t really look past Paul Hughes, because styles make fights and every fight is a different fight. So for me, it’s staying focused on Paul Hughes. But after that Usman fight (vs. Alexandr Shabliy), Khabib (Nurmagomedov) did walk by and he goes, ‘See you in Dubai, brother,’ and I started laughing. It was just funny, because he knows I’m watching, why I’m there.”
Prior to retaining his title against Alexandr Shabliy in September, Nurmagomedov said he sees McKee as the top contender. McKee isn’t sure why he was booked against Hughes instead of being the next title challenger, but says a fight with Nurmagomedov is inevitable.
“I have no idea – he might need a little break,” McKee said. “I think that’s the next fight regardless, though. Khabib kind of said it to me, I’ve been veering for it for a minute, and I think everybody knows that’s the fight to make.
“I think that’s the fight they’re going to make. It’s the fight that kind of makes sense to make. But obviously, I’ve got to go do my job. It’s one more man in front of me. When you look at the stats, we all know who deserves that title shot, but I’ve just got one more step to prove.”
Former UFC champ Francis Ngannou says he wants to leave combat sports “at the top of my game,” and he already knows when that might be.
[autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] is feeling healthy and strong ahead of his return to MMA against Renan Ferreira at PFL: Battle of the Giants, but the clock is apparently ticking on his time in combat sports.
Ngannou (17-3) already mulled retirement once this year after the tragic death of his 15-month-old son, Kobe. He ultimately decided to return to honor the memory of his child and is all in as he prepares to compete in his first MMA fight in 991 days against Ferreira (13-3) on Oct. 19 at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (ESPN+ pay-per-view, DAZN).
Since officially parting ways with the UFC in January 2022, Ngannou has competed only in boxing. He fought Tyson Fury to a controversial split decision loss in October 2023 and then suffered a knockout against Anthony Joshua in March. He’s now back in the sport that made his name, and with fight camp essentially complete, Ngannou said he’s in good form.
“My body is holding up well,” Ngannou told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “Obviously I had a knee surgery, but that was over two years ago now. It took me quite a long time, over a year to really get back. But now I’m really strong. By the time I get back into the fight, I get very strong. I can kick. Even though kicking is not my cup of tea, I do kick.”
Although Ngannou is solely focused on the task at hand, he admits this fight is the beginning of his wind down from his fighting career. He intends to have more MMA and boxing matches before he hangs up the gloves, but after celebrating his 38th birthday on Sept. 5, he said a timeline to hang it up is crystallizing in his mind.
“I have an appetite to go back into boxing,” Ngannou said. “For sure, I still have a couple fights in both left. I just turned 38, so I will say my retirement, when I start getting around 41 or 42. It could be 40, but this is just in an exceptional case. This time I think I really have to enjoy my time inside the octagon and inside the ring, and then have my last dance and go home.”
Ngannou understands that heavyweights tend to have longer careers in professional fighting than lower divisions. The founder of his home gym in Las Vegas, UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, competed well into his 40s. There’s multiple other prominent examples, as well, but Ngannou said he is not in a position where he needs to cling on.
With financial security achieved for his lifetime and beyond, Ngannou said it’s all about picking the right moment to walk away. He has seen all too many instances of athletes sticking around beyond their expiration dates, and Ngannou is adamant he won’t be one of those people.
“Heavyweights can go for a long time,” Ngannou said. “Even middleweight, I think Dan Henderson was 46 when he fought (Michael) Bisping the last time in London and that was in middleweight. Then Glover Teixeira was champion at 42. He was a light heavyweight. But the thing here, I just want to say I want to leave the sport before the sport leaves me. I would like to leave at the top of my game. We will see how it goes. You make plans, but then God has plans. We will see.”
Francis Ngannou reminded everyone to consider the source after Dana White again criticized his decision to leave the UFC.
[autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] is not looking to get into another back-and-forth with UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] over the semantics of his choice to leave the promotion.
As the three-year anniversary of Ngannou’s final octagon appearance approaches, the former UFC heavyweight champion doesn’t have a sliver of doubt that he made the right call leaving the company behind. Since then, Ngannou has achieved his dream of competing in professional boxing after a pair of significant bouts against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua that figure to have cashed in big paydays.
There was a point in time when White said Ngannou would never get what he wanted in the boxing world by parting ways with the UFC, especially after he left an offer on the table to be the highest paid heavyweight in UFC history. More recently, White said the idea that boxing provides greater paydays than what’s possible in the UFC is “a myth,” and he knows for “a fact” that Ngannou was offered more money to stay in UFC because he knows the “real numbers” that others don’t.
Ngannou can only scoff at White’s comments and cautioned the public to not buy into the narrative peddled by the UFC boss.
“Personally at this point, it’s been a while since I’ve taken anything from Dana White as credible,” Ngannou told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “I don’t give any importance because the things that he says a lot of times cannot make sense. But just for this statement, I will say for everything that I left the UFC for – every single thing – I have had more. Way more. Everything. Name it. Just say I have had everything way more, just for the reference.”
Ngannou (17-3) did not get the results he wanted in the boxing ring as he lost a controversial decision to Fury in October 2022 despite knocking him down and then suffered a brutal knockout loss to Joshua in March. Now Ngannou is about to begin the second chapter of his MMA career as he’s set to make his long-awaited PFL debut when he takes on Renan Ferreira (13-3) in the “Battle of the Giants” main event Oct. 19 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (ESPN+ pay-per-view, DAZN).
Although Ngannou doesn’t have the UFC platform behind him, he is happy with his life. He does not regret a single business decision he has made from the time of his UFC exit to today. Because of that, all of White’s statements are irrelevant to him.
“I’m very comfortable,” Ngannou said. “To this day, I fight because I love fighting. I don’t fight because I need to pay bills or because I need to pay debts. I don’t fight because I need to make a living. I fight because I want to. I can say, ‘OK, I’m out.’ And I will be good. And it would be the last time that you see me.”
Heavyweight title fights don’t get much bigger than Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Fereira – literally and figuratively.
Make no mistake: Heavyweight title fights don’t get much bigger than [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Renan Fereira[/autotag] – literally and figuratively.
In the literal sense, Ngannou (at 6-foot-4) and Ferreira (at 6-8) are two behemoths who will easily clear a combined 500 pounds when they step into the cage for their PFL Super Fights pay-per-view headliner Oct. 19 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In the figurative sense, it’s one of the most anticipated fights of the year as Ngannou (17-3), the lineal heavyweight champion, makes his long-awaited return to mixed martial arts after nearly three years away from the sport. Although Ngannou had two big-money boxing bouts against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, he hasn’t competed in MMA since UFC 270 in January 2022. Ready to welcome him is Ferreira (13-3), who went on a tear in 2023 to claim the PFL season heavyweight title before completely dismantling Bellator champ Ryan Bader this past February.
With so much at stake in this “Battle of the Giants,” the PFL went all out with an epic Godzilla-like trailer released Tuesday, which you can watch in the video above.
Check out the full fight card headlined by Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira.
PFL is pegging Battle of the Giants to be one of its biggest events of the year – and now a full fight card has been revealed.
On Thursday, the promotion announced its finalized 10-fight lineup including a handful of notable names as new additions. The event takes place Oct. 19 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with the main card on ESPN+/DAZN pay-per-view.
In the main event, former UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] returns to MMA after a two-fight boxing stint to take on [autotag]Renan Ferreira[/autotag]. In the co-main event, [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] and [autotag]Larissa Pacheco[/autotag] finally meet in a highly-anticipated showdown.
Also on the main card, Bellator middleweight champion [autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] defends his title in a rematch vs. [autotag]Fabian Edwards[/autotag], and [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] meets [autotag]Paul Hughes[/autotag] in a lightweight bout.
The new additions announced Tuesday include a main card clash between [autotag]Husein Kadimagomaev[/autotag] and [autotag]Zafar Mohsen[/autotag], as well as a rescheduled bantamweight bout between [autotag]Raufeon Stots[/autotag] and [autotag]Marcos Breno[/autotag].
Additional bouts include [autotag]Makkasharip Zaynukov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dedrek Sanders[/autotag], [autotag]Ibragim Ibragimov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Nacho Campos[/autotag], [autotag]Mostafa Nada[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ahmed Sami[/autotag], and [autotag]Youssef Al Housani[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Taha Bendaoud[/autotag].
Paul Hughes plans to take A.J. McKee’s spot in the queue for Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov.
[autotag]Paul Hughes[/autotag] plans to take A.J. McKee’s spot in the queue for Bellator lightweight champion [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag].
Hughes (12-1) will face McKee (22-1) in a key 155-pound bout at PFL: Battle of the Giant on Oct. 19 at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN+).
Champ Nurmagomedov said after his recent title defense over Alexander Shabliy at Bellator Champions Series: San Diego earlier this month that he thinks McKee is the frontrunner for the next shot at his belt. However, Hughes plans to play spoiler to that situation.
“Right now what is most exciting to me is definitely fighting Usman,” Hughes told MMA Junkie Radio. “That’s Russia vs. Ireland 2. That’s an Irishman vs. a Nurmagomedov. Obviously there’s going to be storyline there as well with A.J. supposed to be the next guy up, but whenever I beat him, it’s got to be next.
“Usman is a guy I’ve called out a couple times on social media. I was going to call him out after my debut with Bellator but he had just been booked that week. He’s definitely someone that I’ve kept my eye on, and whenever I beat A.J., then we’ll see what happens.”
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Hughes, 27, is one of the brightest fighters coming out of Ireland and has impressed to this point of his career. The matchup with former Bellator champ McKee represents a significant step up in competition, though, and will be Hughes’ sternest test to date.
He’s ready to rise to the challenge, and thinks McKee will be shocked at what’s coming.
“I’m absolutely world class in every area,” Hughes said. “If he wants to wrestle, if he wants to shoot, then bring it. Bring it. Whenever I’m sprawling, cracking him, shooting on him back and taking him down, we’ll see how he reacts to that. This is the young, hungry lion coming up against the guy who has been there and done that. So it’s exciting to see what’s going to happen to be honest.”
Donn Davis has made a bold claim about the cost of PFL: Battle of the Giants coming next month.
PFL co-owner [autotag]Donn Davis[/autotag] has made a bold claim about the cost of the promotion’s “Battle of the Giants” pay-per-view event.
The card is headlined by a heavyweight title fight between champion Renan Ferreira and former UFC champ Francis Ngannou on Oct. 19 at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Davis said the cost of this event will exceed this past Saturday’s UFC 306 event at Sphere in Las Vegas.
“First of all, I believe this is the biggest event possible in MMA because of the (main and co-main events) this year, 2024,” Davis told the New York Post. “That makes it certainly the biggest thing for the PFL. The UFC is the bigger company, and we’re putting on the bigger event. So this is a big deal for us. Our No. 1 metric is putting on the highest-quality MMA fight for fans in the world.
“We want to show fans that we can put on just as good, or better, of a product for them than anyone in the world. That’s metric No. 1. Metric No. 2 is we want to do OK financially. The cost of this fight is astronomical. Dana White talks about his $20 million Sphere event; this is more. Fighters here make more. The card here has more big fights coming. This cost to us is more than his cost to the Sphere.”
The card will also feature a women’s featherweight title bout between champion Larissa Pacheco and Cris Cyborg, as well as notables such as Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen, and A.J. McKee.