In a night of MMA that gives vibes of the end of the Monday Night Wars in wrestling and the WWE’s Invasion pay-per-view in 2001, it’s PFL vs Bellator on Saturday night.
Back in November, PFL played the part of WWE to Bellator’s WCW when they completed the acquisition of their rival promotion. We’ve got all the news from the PFL vs Bellator fight card ahead of this weekend, including the changes to the original schedule.
There were supposed to be four champion vs champion fights this weekend but two of those had to be changed due to pull outs.
Despite the changes we think that it’s a really interesting PFL Bellator card this weekend, in the first event of the new era for both companies.
PFL vs Bellator Fight Card: Everything You Need To Know
The PFL vs Bellator fight card sees two of the biggest promotions in MMA meet inside the cage. It’s certainly quite the unique event to be having and that makes it as interesting as anything else you can watch in combat sports this weekend.
Heavyweight – Champion vs Champion: Renan Ferreira vs Ryan Bader
Middleweight – Champion vs Champion: Impa Kasanganay vs Johnny Eblen
We were supposed to be seeing four of these champion vs champion fights this weekend but we’ll make do with two in the top slots of the PFL vs Bellator fight card. Both see the winners of PFL 2023 taking on the current Bellator title holders.
On the top of the bill is a heavyweight bout in which both men may be considering what comes next should they win. Ferreira called for a fight with Francis Ngannou sometime this year when he won the PFL Heavyweight 2023 tournament and if Bader were to beat him then the Bellator title holder would have just as good a claim to that bout.
The Brazilian didn’t make it past the semi-finals in 2022 but was the second favorite going into last year’s edition. He defeated Maurice Greene in the semis before knocking out Denis Goltsov in November’s final.
On the opposite side of the cage will be the very experienced Bader. The former UFC man won the Ultimate Fighter series 8 at light heavyweight and has held gold at both light heavyweight and heavyweight in his time with Bellator.
He won the belt at the heaviest division when defeating Fedor Emelianenko in the Grand Prix final back in 2019 and his only losses since have come at the lighter weight. He’s defended the title on four occasions, most recently in a rematch with Fedor in February last year.
Before going to PFL, Kasangany was best known for his KO defeat by Joaquin Buckley, and the jumping spinning back kick that ended their fight. However, the 30-year-old is now the PFL light heavyweight winner.
He defeated Josh Silveira in the final, having come into the tournament as the fourth seed and defeated the top seed to win the tournament. That earned him $1 million and a place near the top of the PFL vs Bellator fight card this weekend.
Eblen is undefeated in MMA with a spotless 14-0 record going into this one, with 10 of those wins coming in Bellator. He defeated Gegard Mousasi for the middleweight title in June 2022 and has defended it twice since.
PFL vs Bellator Main Card
Heavyweight – Champion vs Champion: Renan Ferreira vs Ryan Bader
Middleweight – Champion vs Champion: Impa Kasanganay vs Johnny Eblen
Featherweight: Patricio Pitbull vs Gabriel Alves Braga
Catchweight (182 lbs): Ray Cooper III vs Jay Jackson
Heavyweight: Bruno Cappelozza vs Vadim Nemkov
Light heavyweight: Thiago Santos vs Yoel Romero
Lightweight: Clay Collard vs A.J McKee
PFL vs Bellator Early Card
Featherweight: Aaron Pico vs Henry Corrales
Lightweight: Biaggio Ali Walsh vs Emmanuel Palacio
Women’s super lightweight: Claressa Shields vs Kelsey DeSantis
Featherweight: Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs Edukondala Rao
Flyweight: Malik Basahel vs Vinicius Pereira
PFL vs Bellator Fight Card Tonight: Match Ups To Watch Out For
It’s not very often that the biggest star on the show is on the early card, but that’s almost certainly the case on the PFL vs Bellator fight card. It is of course undefeated, undisputed two weight world boxing champion Claressa Shields.
The G.W.O.A.T has had two MMA fights with one win and one defeat so far. It’ll be interesting how she gets on with her latest attempt to compete in a second sport and we’re here for it.
Two MMA veterans compete in an all Bellator match up as Thiago Santos and Yoel Romero meet inside the cage. Romero’s form has drastically dropped off in recent times but it’s always fun to see him in action.
The main event is intriguing for many reasons, perhaps most of all to see who will fight Francis Ngannou. The former UFC heavyweight champion is set to debut in PFL later this year, but he still has Anthony Joshua in a boxing ring to thing about for now, and who knows what else awaits in the sweet science.
Ryan Sidle is a sports journalist with nearly a decade in the industry. He's been interested in boxing since Mike Tyson vs Frank Bruno and his MMA fandom was sparked by Michael Bisping and Anderson Silva.
