Fight Facts: PFL vs. Bellator Champs

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS: 1,015
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 110

In the first event following the merger of Professional Fighters League and Bellator MMA, the two leagues smashed their toys together to find one clear result: Bellator’s roster trumps PFL’s. Just one PFL representative prevailed at night’s end compared to five from Bellator, with many one-sided performances from the latter. PFL vs. Bellator Champs featured one of the fastest heavyweight finishes in promotional history, sweet revenge for a Bellator contender and the heaviest women’s match ever to grace the Smartcage.

Needs Better Lighting: The PFL traveled to the Middle East for the first time with this event, running the show outdoors in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Before this show, the PFL had only ever staged shows around the U.S. and Europe.

Not a Good Look for PFL: While six competitors repping Bellator faced six PFL counterparts, only one match occurred between champions at the same weight division from their companies: Renan Ferreira (PFL) vs. Ryan Bader (BMMA). Ferreira shellacked Bader to get one on the board for PFL.

Who Turned Out the Lights: The speedy 21-second victory for the 6-foot-8 Brazilian tied for the 10th-fastest finish in company history, along with Louis Lee Scott’s stoppage of Sam Robinson via punches and head kick in March 2023.

Watch Out, Heavyweight: Only one heavyweight in organizational history has ended a fight quicker than Ferreira: Denis Goltsov, who needed 18 seconds to lamp Yorgan De Castro with one punch in June 2023.

Francis Wanted None of It: With his quick drubbing in the books, Ferreira called for a fight with Francis Ngannou as his finish rate lifted to 92%. Each of his last six victories has ended via knockout within two rounds.

Pressure Met Pressure: Johnny Eblen escaped with a split decision win over Impa Kasanganay to earn the fifth victory for Bellator against PFL. Eblen’s finish rate fell below 50% as he battled the former light heavyweight all three rounds and has gone to Round 3 in five straight outings.

You Jackson? At a pre-planned catchweight of 182 pounds, Jason Jackson dismantled Ray Cooper III en route to an early second-round stoppage. His win with leg kicks is the 10th to take place in a World Series of Fighting or PFL cage, and the first since Brendan Loughnane put Marlon Moraes away with them in April 2023.

You Look Like a Jackson: Winner of eight straight, this win streak Jackson is riding is twice as long as his previous career high. The two knockouts in his last two outings count for one-third of Jackson’s triumphs via strikes.

A Tumbling Former Champ: Cooper suffered his fifth loss as a PFL competitor, tying him with three others for the fourth-most defeats in organizational history. Chris Wade’s eight stand alone above the rest.

Grappling Mode Enabled: Putting Bruno Cappelozza to sleep with an arm-triangle choke, Vadim Nemkov successfully relocated to heavyweight after nine years away from the division. The Russian has earned 76% of his wins inside the distance, but it marked the first time he had rendered a foe unconscious with a submission.

We Knew What We Were Getting: For three slow rounds, Yoel Romero outworked Thiago Santos to win on the scorecards. The 46-year-old Cuban has reached Round 3 in 17 straight outings, dating back to November 2013.

Easiest Work: A.J. McKee needed just over a minute to snatch up an armbar on Clay Collard. The fight was McKee’s second outside of the Bellator cage, although he participated in a co-promoted event for both appearances.

Where Does He Go from Here: The 70-second finish for McKee over Collard is the fourth-fastest in WSOF-PFL’s lightweight division. The quickest came in 2019 when Natan Schulte put Ramsey Nijem to sleep with a rear-naked choke in 52 seconds.

Outgunned “OK Corrales”: Clubbing late replacement Henry Corrales at the end of the first round, Aaron Pico avenged a 2019 loss. The wrestler has performed 11 of his 13 pro wins via stoppage, including seven in the opening frame.

Not a Groundbreaking Performance: Claressa Shields earned her first pro MMA win by decision when she took a split verdict over Kelsey De Santis in a 165-pound catchweight contest. It marked the first women’s bout in a major organization held in Saudi Arabia. It also passed Genah Fabian vs. Julia Budd’s 161-pound encounter to become the heaviest women’s bout in company history.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into PFL vs. Bellator Champs, Eblen had never encountered split scorecards (14 wins, seven decisions), Corrales had never been knocked out (28 fights) and Edukondal Rao had never been finished (six fights).