PFL champions vs. Bellator champions: Who will be fighting after last night's event?
The PFL capped off another regular season last night with their annual World Championships event. It saw a number of notable guests in attendance as the promotion set the stage for a champion vs. champion event with the newly acquired Bellator.
Following their acquisition of Bellator this past week, the promotion's co-founder, Donn Davis, mentioned that there would be a champion vs. champion event in 2024. So, it seems it will be taking place before the 2024 regular season starts.
Bellator featherweight champion Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire and newly crowned welterweight champion Jason Jackson were brought into the cage following the featherweight and welterweight finals for a faceoff with their next opponent.
'Pitbull' will be fighting PFL featherweight champion Jesus Pinedo, while Jackson will be fighting welterweight champion Magomed Magomedkerimov. Despite the interest in Kayla Harrison vs. Bellator women's featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, Donn Davis confirmed that Cyborg will be fighting women's featherweight champion Larissa Pacheco at the event.
Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader also made an appearance on last night's broadcast. He shared his thoughts on his next opponent, Renan Ferreira, who defeated Denis Goltsov via second-round TKO to win the heavyweight championship.
Despite expressing interest in moving up to heavyweight, it appears as though Bellator light heavyweight champion, Vadim Nemkov, will fight PFL light heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay next.
The remaining divisions become uncertain as the PFL doesn't have middleweight, bantamweight or flyweight divisions. So Bellator champions Johnny Eblen, Patchy Mix and Liz Carmouche could possibly have other opponents lined up instead.
It's also important to note that Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov was recently handed a six-month suspension and had been competing in the lightweight Grand Prix.
Based on Nurmagomedov's suspension, the status of a champion vs. champion bout against Olivier Aubin-Mercier is unclear. With that in mind, an alternative could see Bellator lightweight Grand Prix finalist Alexandr Shabliy competing instead.