The PFL is gearing up for their 2024 season and this week they announced their first round of matchups that will kick off on April 4th from San Antonio, Texas. Of course, this is the first regular season for the promotion since their massive acquisition of Bellator at the end of last year.
We know that Bellator will still operate under the Champions Series with their first event coming up next Friday on March 22nd from Belfast. That event will feature a vacant light heavyweight title fight and Patricio Pitbull defending his featherweight championship.
Speaking of Bellator champions, the one champion who will be crossing over to the PFL for the 2024 regular season is on this first event in San Antonio. Bellator flyweight champion Liz Carmouche (20-7) will be starting her campaign for a PFL regular season championship and she’ll be taking on a familiar foe.
In Carmouche’s debut, she’ll be facing former Bellator champion Juliana Velasquez (12-2) in their third fight. To this point in Velasquez’s career, she’s only lost twice both coming against Liz Carmouche. Also on the card is former UFC title challenger Taila Santos (19-3) making her promotional debut against Denis Kielholtz (8-5). This is the first time that the PFL is hosting a season for the women’s flyweight division.
The main event of the first show features 2022 heavyweight champion Ante Delija (24-5) returning to face former interim Bellator heavyweight champion Valentin Moldavsky (12-3). Delija won his lone fight last year, but injuries kept him from accumulating the points needed to defend his title in the playoffs. The full card is shown below.
PFL Regular Season
The second regular season event goes down on April 12th from Las Vegas which is one night before the historic UFC 300 event. A huge weekend for combat sports fan in the fight capital of the world. That card will feature light heavyweights and lightweights.
The main event is a battle between former Bellator light heavyweight champion Phil Davis (24-7) and 2022 PFL champion Rob Wilkinson (17-2, 1 NC). Wilkinson started the 2023 season strong with a big win over Thiago Santos, but a positive drug test overturned the fight to a No Contest and eliminated him from the season. He’s back with something to prove on April 12th.
Phil Davis enters his first PFL season having gone 11-3 in his last eight fights. His only three losses have come against former Bellator champ Vadim Nemkov and upcoming title challenger Corey Anderson. Other than that, he’s been very dominant and now he’s looking to become a regular season champion.
Another note worthy matchup is former Bellator lightweight champion Patricky Pitbull (25-12) making his season debut against the always entertaining Clay Collard (24-12). Sadibou Sy (16-7-2) who was the 2022 welterweight champion and 2023 welterweight runner-up is moving up all the way to light heavyweight where he’ll take on last year’s light heavyweight runner-up Josh Silveira (12-2). The full card is shown below.
Chicago Event: Welterweights and Featherweights
The final PFL opening round regular season event goes down on Friday April 19th from Chicago. As you can see above, this event features the welterweight and featherweight divisions. Headlining the show is former top five Bellator welterweight contender Andrey Koreshkov (27-4) taking on undefeated sensation Magomed Umalatov (14-0) in a battle of Russian standouts.
2022 featherweight champion and promotional star Brendan Loughnane (27-5) is taking on former Bellator title challenger Pedro Carvalho (13-8) in the co-main event. Former interim Bellator champ Logan Storley (15-2) will be taking on unbeaten Shamil Musaev (16-0-1) on the card as well. You can view the full card below.