COVID-19 may have stalled PFL’s progress for a year but the promotion is coming back with some major fire this 2021 season.
The year hiatus led to the PFL signing much talent to the roster. One of the first signings being Rory Macdonald pre-pandemic. Months later, the fire started catching with contracts being handed out to former UFC champs, Anthony Pettis, Fabricio Werdum and even boxing champion Claressa Shields.
A Debut Of The Ages
Speaking of the devil, Werdum is finally set to make his promotional debut on Thursday, May 6th when he takes on Renan Ferreira. ‘Vai Cavalo’ will ride again in his first fight outside the UFC since 2011.
Werdum is coming off a slick first round submission win over former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson on UFC on ESPN 14 last July. After the win on Fight Island, the former champ would dive in and test the waters of free agency. The rest was history.
The Return of the Judo Queen
Two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, Kayla Harrison has been called for a comeback. She’s coming off a ‘bloody good’ (pun intended) one-off performance at Invicta FC 43, where she dominated and dethroned Courtney King.
Due to the league’s inactivity in 2020, Harrison was allowed to fight once again, this time at Titan FC, scheduled for December. She was supposed to take on Jozette Cotton in a rematch. However, this would not come into fruition after Cotton was hospitalized due to her weight cut.
Moving away from the crime-like TKO victory and the cancelled bout, the undefeated Harrison will resume and continue her reign as the PFL Champion when she takes on the seasoned Mariana Morais.
You Have Seen Nothing Yet
The two stars are joined and backed up by an excellent undercard full of names you’ll likely recognize. Here is the full lineup for May 6th.
Main Card (ESPN2)
Fabricio Werdum vs. Renan Ferreira
Kayla Harrison vs. Mariana Morais
Ali Isaev vs. Hatef Moeil
Genah Fabian vs. Laura Sanchez
Prelims (ESPN+)
Mohammed Usman vs Brandon Sayles
Denis Goltsov vs. Justin Willis
Larissa Pacheco vs. Julija Pajic
Ante Delija vs. Bruno Cappelozza
Cindy Dandois vs. Kaitlin Young
Olena Kolesnyk vs. Taylor Guardado
The stacked 10-fight card of PFL 3 contains UFC veterans Justin ‘Big Pretty’ Willis, Cindy Dandois. It will also shed some light on Mohammed Usman (Kamaru Usman’s brother), Kaitlin Young and PFL’s 2019 finalist Larissa Pacheco.