Which fighters won the coveted $1 million award at PFL World Championship 2023?
The 2023 PFL World Championship event took place recently at The Anthem Auditorium in Washington, D.C., and featured seven main card fights and four preliminary card bouts. The event saw six divisions crown new season winners, each taking home a whopping $1 million prize along with their titles.
The first contender to win the coveted million-dollar prize was Jesus Pinedo. Pinedo defeated Gabriel Braga via third-round knockout in a featherweight season final contest to become the new PFL featherweight champion.
After the Peruvian's incredible victory, former UFC contender Impa Kasanganay became the second fighter to win a title and a million dollars. Kasanganay defeated Josh Silveira via unanimous decision in a light heavyweight contest to become the promotion's new 205-pound king.
After Kasanganay's win, the promotion got its new welterweight champion. Magomed Magomedkerimov defeated Sadibou Sy via third-round submission to become the new 170-pound kingpin and take home $1 million.
Next up, former UFC contender Larissa Pacheco became the first two-division champion in promotional history after beating Marina Mokhnatkina via unanimous decision to win the featherweight title. She also holds the women's lightweight title.
After Pacheco's historical bout, Renan Ferreira defeated Denis Goltsov via second-round TKO to win the heavyweight contest finale. In the headliner of PFL 10, Olivier Aubin-Mercier beat Clay Collard via unanimous decision to become the new PFL Lightweight champion.
PFL founder Donn Davis on potential Francis Ngannou vs. Deontay Wilder fight
Professional Fighters League frontman Donn Davis recently weighed in on Francis Ngannou potentially making his promotional debut against former heavyweight boxing champion Deontay Wilder in 2024.
Davis stated that the promotion was exploring the possibility of Ngannou returning to MMA in a hybrid-rules fight against Wilder for his next combat sports outing. 'The Predator' made his boxing debut in October against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Fury won via a razor-sharp split decision.
Given Ngannou's incredible performance against Fury, many were eager to see him in the squared circle again. While Ngannou was keen to rematch the Englishman and was linked to fight Wilder in a boxing match, it seems the promotion has other plans.
In a recent conversation with Ariel Helwani, Donn Davis outlined Francis Ngannou's potential fight plans and said:
"We don’t know, other than he will fight with PFL in 2024. We don’t know if it’s the first or last quarter. I still think it will be a mixed-rules fight, and I still think Deontay Wilder is the most likely opponent... We’re listening to Francis, and he’s sequencing his options."