Tomorrow night the PFL returns for their first event of the 2023 season. The featured divisions tomorrow night are the light heavyweight and featherweight divisions. Headlining the card is 2022 featherweight champion Brendan Loughnane (26-4) as he takes on former UFC title challenger “Magic” Marlon Moraes (23-11-1).
Brendan Loughnane first appeared on the national scene when he fought on Dana White’s Contender Series. He got the win, but White decided to not give him a UFC contract. The UFC’s loss was PFL’s gain. He immediately signed with the promotion and has gone 8-1.
Last year, he went a perfect 4-0 and stopped Bubba Jenkins to win the featherweight championship. He has his eyes set on defending his title and winning the 2023 championship. His journey starts tomorrow against Marlon Moraes.
Marlon Moraes briefly retired early in the year last year. However, after some time off, he decided to make a comeback at 145 pounds and he signed with the PFL. He made his promotional debut at the 2022 championship event and looked solid through two rounds against Sheymon Moraes.
However, in the third round, he got caught with a big overhand right. Sheymon Moraes followed up with a few big punches and the fight was stopped. Moraes is now just 1-6 in his last seven including a five-fight losing streak. His lone win was a fight most thought he lost. What’s worse is that he’s been knocked out in all six losses. He needs a win in the worst way tomorrow night.
PFL Light Heavyweights
In the co-main event tomorrow night, the 2022 light heavyweight champion Rob Wilkinson (17-2) will welcome a big time acquisition to the PFL. Former UFC title challenger Thiago Santos (22-11) will make his debut tomorrow night against the best the promotion has to offer.
What a year 2022 was for Wilkinson. He went a perfect 4-0 to capture the light heavyweight title and not a single opponent saw the third round. His last loss came to Israel Adesanya in the UFC back in 2018. Since that loss, he’s 6-0 with six finishes.
Thiago Santos had an absolute war last August against the now UFC champ Jamahal Hill. He looked better than he had in a while in that fight, however, he still came up short. He left the UFC having gone just 1-5 in his last six fights.
Still, he’s incredible dangerous and he has a big name in the sport. This is going to be a fight that you don’t want to miss tomorrow night. Here is a link where you can view the entire 2023 kickoff card which goes down tomorrow night.