Tomorrow night the PFL Playoffs kickoff from Nashville and we will see the first two championship fights get booked. The heavyweights and women’s flyweight divisions take center stage with the big boys closing the show. In the main event, Denis Goltsov (34-8) takes on Tim Johnson (18-9).
Goltsov earned the top seed in this year’s playoffs after earning ten points during the regular season. Goltsov scored a third round TKO over Linton Vassell and a first round TKO over Thiago Santos to earn this spot in the playoffs. Goltsov has been a staple of the PFL since 2019 and he has a record of 12-3 in the Smart Cage. This year, he’s finally hoping to take home that million dollar check and the world championship. Last year, he was the runner-up to Renan Ferreira.
Standing across from him tomorrow night will be Tim Johnson. Johnson snuck his way into the playoffs after just competing in one Regular Season event. Johnson didn’t fight in the first event back in April, but he fought on the June card.
That night he scored a first round TKO over Danilo Marques which secured him six points which was enough to get him the fourth seed in the PFL Playoffs. That was also Johnson’s third win in a row. Goltsov is the big betting favorite ahead of tomorrow night’s semifinal matchup.
PFL Heavyweights
The other semifinal matchup pairs the two seed Oleg Popov (18-1) against Linton Vassell (25-9). Now, former interim Bellator champion Valentin Moldavsky (13-4) was supposed to face Popov in this matchup. However, Moldavsky suffered an injury and couldn’t make the fight. That’s one of the tough parts about the PFL’s Regular Season.
So, in steps Linton Vassell. Now, Vassell does deserve this spot in the playoffs. While he only secured three points in the regular season, Vassell did defeat Moldavsky by decision back in June. Of course, the decision wasn’t enough to pass Moldavsky in the rankings because Moldavsky had a first round finish back in April.
However, that becomes a moot point with the Moldavsky injury. Vassell entered the regular season riding a five-fight winning streak. He lost to Denis Goltsov in the first round, but now he gets a shot in the playoffs. To make the finals, he’ll have to take out the two seed in Oleg Popov.
Popov lost his third professional MMA fight, but since then he’s won 16 fights in a row. So far during the PFL Regular Season, he scored a second round TKO over Steve Mowry and a decision win over Davion Franklin. He’ll look to win his 17th fight in a row tomorrow night while putting away the tough veteran Linton Vassell.