The Bottom Line: Pieces Falling into Place

The #PFLPlayoffs return Friday, Aug. 5 in NYC!

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Prelims: 7 p.m. ET on ESPN & ESPN+
Main Card: 9 p.m. ET on ESPN+

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The Professional Fighters League begins its 2022 playoffs on Friday in New York, marking the fourth year the PFL will crown season champions in a number of weight classes. This year shows promise on two fronts. First, the venues are being upgraded, as the PFL runs outside of the United States for the first time since changing its name and format from the World Series of Fighting. The crowds in London and Cardiff, Wales, are likely to be enthusiastic and engaged to be getting PFL for the first time. British fans have supported mixed martial arts well beyond just the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as the market has arguably been Bellator MMA’s strongest. The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden rounds out the announced venues and has proven to be a strong environment for PFL in the past.

Additionally, the PFL has had good fortune when it comes to the fighters advancing in the tournaments. With its tournament format, the promotion is at the mercy of the early results. In 2021, it signed prominent free agents Fabricio Werdum and Anthony Pettis, only to see neither of them qualify for the playoffs. This year, most of the PFL’s more prominent stars have advanced, with the most notable exceptions being Jeremy Stephens, Julia Budd and Ray Cooper III.

PFL 7 features the lightweight and light heavyweight tournaments. The lightweights comprise the largest collection of names, with three of the four competitors having fought in the UFC over 10 times. Pettis is oddly the top seed despite his struggles thus far in the PFL. He is only 1-3, but his win was a first-round submission. That gave him the tiebreaker over Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Alex Martinez, who went 2-0 but won their bouts by decision.

Aubin-Mercier and Martinez will square off as the second and third seeds, with the submission ace Aubin-Mercier the firm betting favorite against the less-tested Martinez. Pettis’ bout as the No. 1 seed is a unique one, as he will rematch the fourth-seeded Steven Ray, who beat Pettis with an unusual body triangle submission last time out. Pettis will have the chance for immediate revenge, but a loss would be devastating given his recent struggles.

The light heavyweight Final Four lost a little bit of juice when Antonio Carlos Jr. had to pull out, as the Brazilian has been impressive and undefeated since leaving the UFC. Omari Akhmedov might end up wishing for Carlos Jr., however, as his new opponent is Joshua Silveira. An undefeated American Top Team product, Silveira might have ended up in the semifinals himself had he had two regular-season fights rather than one. Top seed Rob Wilkinson was dominant in technical knockout finishes of Viktor Pesta and Bruce Souto and will be the decided favorite on the other side of the bracket against Delan Monte.

The welterweights and the heavyweights take the stage next week. Rory MacDonald will seek redemption as the top welterweight seed, having lost his last fight and four of his last six. Having fought professionally now for almost 17 years, there are questions about whether his heart is still in it. He will need to be on his game. His opponent is the unbeaten Magomed Umalatov, who, despite being the No. 4 seed at 12-0, might be the favorite to win the tournament. On the other side of the bracket, Sadibou Sy is one of only two fighters—Chris Wade is the other—to make the PFL semifinals every season, but he has yet to advance to a final. Carlos Leal Miranda is in his way and has not lost in nearly eight years.

The heavyweight field is the most anonymous of the PFL groups this year, with no Professional Fighters League titles or UFC-Bellator appearances among the field; Matheus Scheffel had one Dana White’s Contender Series appearance but lost and was not offered a UFC contract. Each semifinal pits a Brazilian against an Eastern European, with Denis Goltsov against Scheffel and Ante Delija versus Renan Ferreira.

In two weeks, the featherweight field is highlighted by Bubba Jenkins’ quest for a defining MMA accomplishment. The amateur wrestling great has had a successful MMA career but has fallen short in his biggest fights. A $1 million championship would vindicate his decade plus-long run. He will fight One Championship and Shooto veteran Ryoji Kudo, who had a spectacular knockout in June to qualify for the playoffs. On the other side of the bracket, the top-seeded Wade returns to the playoffs after falling short in the final in 2021. He takes on English star Brendan Loughnane.

That leads to the women’s lightweight tournament, which has a similar feel. Kayla Harrison and Larissa Pacheco are the prohibitive favorites to advance to the final. Pacheco has been dominant in the PFL, going 6-0 with five first-round stoppages when matched with opponents other than Harrison. Unfortunately for Pacheco, she has lost all eight rounds against Harrison in their two fights and will seek another five. It has to be frustrating for Harrison to return to the same challenges rather than having a new mountain to conquer, but she will be well compensated for her effort. Pacheco has the top seed and will fight Helena Kolesnyk, who she knocked out in 2021. Harrison will get Martina Jindrova, who hasn’t lost in the PFL.