2023 PFL World Championship event: Who is competing and what time does is start?
The PFL will be ushering in a new era of sorts as they host their annual World Championship event, which takes place at The Anthem in Washington, D.C.
Tonight's event is the first since the promotion announced that they officially acquired Bellator to become an MMA co-leader. The annual event is significant as it culminates the 2023 regular season, with the winners earning $1 million and a world championship title.
The 2023 PFL World Championship event will feature six title fights as well as a number of special non-title showcase bouts. The prelims portion is scheduled to begin at 5:30 pm ET on ESPN + and will be headlined by the featherweight championship bout between Jesus Pinedo and Gabriel Alves Braga in a rematch of their encounter this past April, which saw Braga earn a split decision win.
The main card will begin at 8 pm ET on ESPN + PPV and will feature a jam-packed lineup of fights. There are 7 fights in total, including the 5 remaining title world championship fights.
Former UFC middleweight Derek Bruson will be kicking off the main card as he makes his promotion debut against Ray Cooper III in a showcase bout. That will be followed by another showcase bout as former two-division PFL champion Kayla Harrison takes on UFC veteran Aspen Ladd in a 150lb catchweight.
The 5 remaining bouts will all be contested for PFL world championships as the promotion awards $1 million to the winners. The first title fight on the main card will be contested in the light heavyweight division as Impa Kasanganay takes on Joshua Silveira. 2022 welterweight winner Sadibou Sy will look to win back-to-back seasons as he takes on 2021 runner-up Magomed Magomedkerimov.
2022 PFL women's featherweight champion Larissa Pacheco will look to extend her impressive winning to 10 consecutive wins when he takes on Marina Mokhnatkina, Renan Ferreira and Denis Golsov clash in the heavyweight finals and 2022 lightweight world champion Olivier Aubin-Mercier will attempt to win back-to-back season when he fights Clay Collard in the main event.
It will be interesting to see whether the promotion has any announcements in-store tonight as they continue to build momentum into 2024.