The PFL feels like a new promotion and there is a lot of excitement around how they will operate in 2026. On March 20th, the promotion is going to make their debut in Spain and they are bringing a Spanish champion to headline their first event.
Spain’s Costello Van Steenis (17-3) will defend his PFL middleweight title against last year’s middleweight tournament champion Fabian Edwards (16-4) in a rematch from 2020. In their first fight which took place a little more than five years ago, Van Steenis won a split decision.
After that split decision win, Van Steenis won his next fight before losing a decision to Douglas Lima. After two straight stoppages, Van Steenis earned a shot against Johnny Eblen for the middleweight title back in July when the PFL went to Cape Town, South Africa.
It was a back-and-forth fight with Eblen ahead on the cards entering the fifth round. Van Steenis rallied and ended up securing a rear-naked choke. He ended up choking Eblen out with just nine seconds left to win the middleweight title.
A month after Van Steenis won the title, Fabian Edwards was facing Dalton Rosta in the middleweight tournament finals. Edwards knocked Rosta out with a head kick capping off an incredible three-fight run to win the tournament and now he’s getting a rematch with Van Steenis for the PFL middleweight crown.
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