PFL will continue their playoffs on Thursday night when presenting semi-final fights for heavyweight men and lightweight women divisions. In the main event, undefeated 2019 PFL champ Kayla Harrison will face Genah Fabian.
The bouts are scheduled to take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, USA. Here’s a full preview of the show.
Click here to skip to a preview of the main card.
Preliminary Card (5:30PM EDT) (ESPN+ / TSN Bonus)
Bout 1: Christian Lohsen (8-2) vs. Jonas Flok (14-5) (Lightweight)
In the first bout of a five-fight preliminary card, Christian Lohsen and Jonas Flok will face off. While most prelim fights on this card correspond to the weight classes in the playoffs later on (heavyweight men and lightweight women), the first bout is a matchup in the male lightweight class.
Both fighters are currently coming off a win they earned last year. Flok, an LFA alum, earned a stoppage win in November of 2020 against Morgan Sickinger.
Lohsen’s most recent win was two months prior, where he fought to a decision win against Dennis Hughes.
Bout 2: Miranda Barber (1-1) vs. Amanda Leve (0-0) (Lightweight)
Amanda Leve will make her pro debut on the prelims when facing Miranda Barber.
Leve was originally scheduled to meet fellow pro newcomer Cynthia Vanessa Vescan, although plans changed leading up to the event. Leve is turning pro after fighting as an amateur since 2017.
Barber has a win and a loss each in MMA. She is returning to the sport after three recent appearances in boxing.
Bout 3: Marina Mokhnatkina (5-2) vs. Claudia Zamora (3-1) (Lightweight)
Former Bellator fighter Marina Mokhnatkina will make the move to PFL when fighting Claudia Zamora on Thursday.
Mokhnatkina earned her first Bellator victory just two months ago, defeating Amanda Bell via unanimous decision. She had a two-fight losing streak before then.
Zamora is entering PFL on a three-fight win streak over the past year. She has recently competed twice in iKon, where she has scored a stoppage victory in each appearance.
This matchup was made on Wednesday after a weight miss on the main card caused numerous bouts to shift around.
Bout 4: Carl Seumanutafa (12-13) vs. Mo DeReese (8-4) (Heavyweight)
In the first of two non-tournament heavyweight fights on the card, veteran Carl Seumanutafa will fight Mo DeReese.
Seumanutafa is currently on a four-fight losing streak and has a negative pro record of 12 wins and 13 losses. Three of those four losses have come in the 2019 and 2021 PFL seasons. He competed once this year, losing a bout to Renan Ferreira in June.
PFL vet DeReese will be fighting to break a three-fight losing streak. He has been stopped within a round in his past three fights. He was stopped just two months back, as Bruno Cappeloza caught him with strikes in June.
Bout 5: Renan Ferreira (7-2) vs. Stuart Austin (15-6) (Heavyweight)
Heavyweight veteran Stuart Austin will make his PFL debut in the final prelim when facing Renan Ferreira.
Ferreira had a successful yet controversial regular-season run. He spoiled the promotional debut of former UFC champ Fabricio Werdum in May, stopping him in a round with strikes. However, that bout was later overturned to a no contest as a tap to a submission earlier in the round from Ferreira was not seen by the referee, but was detected on a replay.
Ferreira would have originally walked away with six points for the fight against Werdum, but the no contest forced him to settle with just one. He finished the season with four points, as he defeated Carl Seumanutafa in his second bout.
Austin is joining PFL with a pro record of over 20 fights. This includes appearances in Bellator and BAMMA. He enters Thursday on a two-fight win streak, including a recent victory over fellow veteran Satoshi Ishii.
Main Card (9:00PM EDT) (ESPN / TSN 2)
Bout 6: Denis Goltsov (27-6) vs. Ante Delija (18-4) (Heavyweight)
Denis Goltsov and Ante Delija will both get the chance to make it into their first PFL finals with a win in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Goltsov competed in PFL’s 2019 season, qualifying for the playoffs after two stoppage wins in the regular season. He defeated Satoshi Ishii in the first round of the bracket, but later lost to undefeated fighter Ali Isaev in the semi-finals.
Just like his 2019 run, Goltsov made it into playoffs this year with two finish wins. He kicked off his season with a first-round ground and pound win against Mo DeReese, then came back a month later to defeat Brandon Sayles.
Delija had a rough start to the PFL season but was able to turn it around last month and qualify for the playoffs.
His May appearance lasted less than a minute, as Bruno Cappelozza stopped him in 46 seconds with strikes. He snuck into the playoffs in June, defeating Chandler Cole with first-round ground and pound to advance.
Bout 7: Taylor Guardado (2-1) vs. Mariana Morais (17-11) (Lightweight)
Taylor Guardado and Mariana Morais will fight in the first of two lightweight semi-final bouts on this card.
Guardado went the distance in both of her regular season bouts, defeating Helena Kolesnyk and Laura Sanchez to finish the season with six points.
Guardado was first set to meet Larissa Pacheco in the semi-final bout, but plans changed after Pacheco missed weight by two pounds. She was replaced by Morais, who was previously set to compete on Thursday’s undercard.
Morais faced 2019 champ Kayla Harrison in her first appearance of the season. That matchup didn’t go her way, as she was stopped in just over a minute with ground and pound. She was joining PFL after a three-fight win streak in Shooto Brasil.
She bounced back in June, defeating veteran Kaitlin Young via split decision to earn three points. While the win initially didn’t land her in the playoffs, odd circumstances place her there anyway.
Bout 8: Bruno Cappelozza (12-5) vs. Jamelle Jones (12-6) (Heavyweight)
Heavyweight finishers Bruno Cappelozza and Jamelle Jones will collide in the co-main event.
Cappelozza scored a flawless 12-point score in the regular season, stopping both Ante Delija and Mo DeReese within a round. The points he amassed within a season are the maximum amount that can be attained in PFL’s system.
The 32-year-old was joining PFL after being inactive since 2018.
Jones wasn’t initially part of the PFL roster but joined in June with a stoppage victory against Klidson Abreu. The win added to a three-fight streak of victories that include two appearances in CFFC.
Bout 9: Kayla Harrison (10-0) vs. Genah Fabian (4-1) (Lightweight)
Kayla Harrison will look to punch her ticket to her second PFL finals and retain her undefeated pro record when fighting Genah Fabian in the main event of Thursday night’s show.
All 10 of Harrison’s previous pro fights have taken place in PFL. She picked up four wins in 2019 to become the first womens lightweight champ.
She finished both her fights within a round this season, making herself the top seed for the bracket. After kicking off her run this season with a ground and pound win against Mariana Morais, Harrison scored a submission win against veteran Cindy Dandois in June.
Fabian is competing in her second PFL season, however, Thursday night will be her first time fighting Harrison. She had a strong regular season, defeating Laura Sanchez via decision then taking five more points off a stoppage win against Julija Pajic.
A win for Fabian on Thursday would easily be the biggest of her career thus far.
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