Tony Ferguson isn’t hanging up the gloves just yet.

A former UFC interim lightweight champion, the past few years have been especially unkind to Ferguson. “El Cucuy” is currently on an eight-fight losing streak and has not won a bout since 2020. Most recently, Ferguson was submitted by Michael Chiesa at UFC Abu Dhabi back in August, after which he laid one glove down in the cage and teased a possible retirement. But that is no longer the case.

“I only put half the f*cking glove in there, and I got it back, so that just tells me I’ve got both pairs of gloves,” Ferguson said on Demetrious Johnson’s YouTube channel. “So yep. We’re going to probably take the rest of this season, figure things out hard, and we’re coming back either January or February. Stayed tuned.”

One of the more popular fighters in the sport, Ferguson’s calamitous run in recent years has led to increasing calls for his retirement from fans and fellow fighters. But despite his bad run, Ferguson is simply not ready to walk away from the sport he loves and has a plan to change things up moving forward.

“F*ck no I’m not retiring,” Ferguson said. “I’m too old to retire. I’m 40 years old. I’m halfway to 80, I’ve been competing since I was five years old in multiple sports. I wrestled in college, I’ve done all the other stuff, and you know what? It’s not like I don’t know anything else. I do. I’m still able to compete. When somebody is able to run or sprint faster than me then maybe I will start to consider it. But what I really need is to find that coaching, that discipline around other people, being uncomfortable in practice so that way you’re not miserable in the fight… That’s where we’re at right now.”

As for when he’ll return and who it might be again, Ferguson doesn’t have any specific plans at the moment. Instead, he plans to called up UFC CEO Dana White sometime next year and let him figure it out.

“I’m not in any rush for anything,” Ferguson said. “Usually I have little ailments or booboos, hurt, broken. I’m fully recovered from my surgeries. I had two surgeries in January and I fought — not saying I rushed it… The way I’m moving is pretty good. So instead of getting excited and jumping at anything I want, I make the phone call to Dana and tell him, ‘Look, I’m looking for a fight,’ and then they give me one.”

TOP STORIES

Roundtable. Is this the most important event in PFL history? The MMA Fighting team discusses.

New belts. PFL reveals some new special belts for its upcoming superfights this weekend.

Retirement. Charles Oliveira has some different ideas about retirement for Tony Ferguson.

Signing. ONE double champ Reinier de Ridder says signing with the UFC was a bigger deal than his world titles.

Not impressed? Jamahal Hill defends mock-yawning at Alex Pereira’s UFC 307 performance.

VIDEO STEW

Reinier de Ridder interview.

Rampage backing Mike Tyson over Jake Paul.

One of the best fights you’ll ever see is now free to watch. Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje. Do it.

This is a really cool interview with Francis Ngannou.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Countdown.

Preparation.

We are all Megan Anderson.

Winner.

Training.

Kings.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Bryan Battle (11-2) vs. Randy Brown (19-5), UFC 310, Dec. 7.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Since AK, didn’t say it yesterday: hope everyone who got the day off for Indigenous People’s Day had a good one. Now it’s full tilt forward towards PFL Superfights: Ngannou vs. Ferreira. Should be fun.

EXIT POLL

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Brandon Royval just won an incredible five-round fight against Tatsuro Taira, handing the Japanese blue-chipper his first loss. Is that enough to vault him to another title fight and possibly a third matchup with Alexandre Pantoja, who defends his title at UFC 310 in December? Or does “Raw Dawg” need to prove his No. 1 contender credentials one more time?

On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee discuss what’s next for Royval after coming out on top of one of the best fights of 2024. Additionally, future matchups are discussed for cult hero “The Iron Turtle” Jun Yong Park, welterweight winners Chidi Njokuani and Daniel Rodriguez, and intriguing lightweight contender and wife appreciator Grant Dawson. We also try to figure out what lies ahead for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s favorite fighter Themba Gorimbo after he recorded his fourth consecutive victory.

Audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

MMA Fighting has DWCS results for all the action from season 8, week 10 of UFC’s Contender Series on Tuesday night at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nev.

In the main event, Nick Klein and Heraldo Souza will clash in a middleweight contest. Klein, who is 5-1 in his career, has picked up two straight wins. Souza, who is 9-1-1, has won has past three fights via finishes.

Undefeated flyweights Luis Gurule and Nick Piccininni will clash in the co-main event.

Check out the DWCS results for season 8, week 10 below.

Main card (ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)

Nick Klein vs. Heraldo Souza

Luis Gurule vs. Nick Piccininni

Antonio Monteiro vs. Yadier DelValle

Julieta Martinez vs. Leslie Hernandez

Mohamed Ado vs. Jonathan Micallef

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Charles Oliveira hopes that UFC matchmakers change their approach when it comes to booking Tony Ferguson fights if the veteran decides to enter the octagon in the future.

Oliveira, who handled Ferguson the second loss of his current eight-fight skid back in 2020, and has a good relationship with “El Cucuy”, said in an interview with MMA Fighting that it was hard to watch Ferguson suffer another setback this past August in Abu Dhabi, a first-round submission defeat to Michael Chiesa.

Ferguson, a former interim lightweight champion, appeared to indicate his retirement immediately after the bout, but changed the tone at the post-fight press conference, saying “no, I still wanna fight.”

“He deserves all the respect in the world just to be fighting still, he deserves a standing ovation for everything he’s done in the UFC,” Oliveira said. “But I think the UFC should also give him some help and put him against someone [around his age] so they can put on a show and we applaud them.”

Ferguson was stopped in five of those eight losses, also finished by Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, Bobby Green, with additional decision defeats to “do Bronx”, Beneil Dariush and Paddy Pimblett.

The last time Ferguson fought someone who was older than him was June of 2019, when he scored a win over Donald Cerrone. For Oliveira, who earned a shot at the UFC belt with his victory over Ferguson, the UFC should book “El Cucuy” against veterans on the tail end of their career instead of up and comers like Pimblett.

“The guy doesn’t want to retire, he’s there, so why not get someone with the same vibe to put on a big fight? That would be great,” Oliveira said. “But to put these young kids, kids coming in hungry for attention over a big name like him, that’s a bit complicated. It sucks. The guy has a certain age, and you put him against young kids to fight him? That hurts him a little bit.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

We don’t have to tell lies, it was an underwhelming week of MMA as UFC Vegas 98 was not exactly a banner event. Nevertheless, the main event between Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira delivered, and we got some pretty big news about UFC 310. On top of that, we’re now on the road to PFL: Ngannou vs. Ferreira a.k.a “Battle of the Giants” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

So, with a smattering of topics to discuss this week, let’s touch on them all.

Tatsuro Taira

“How do you think a fight between Taira and Mokaev would have played out?”

If you missed it, Brandon Royval took a hard-fought decision over Tatsuro Taira in the main event of UFC Vegas 98 this past Saturday. The fight was one of the best of the year but now that Taira has suffered his first career loss, there’s already been some questioning of how good he is. But that’s a bit crazy.

Taira is only 24 years old and he just went hammer and tongs with the No. 1-ranked guy in the world. In just about any other scenario, people would be praising the pants off him. But because he was a sizable betting favorite heading into the fight, instead there are now questions about how good he is. That’s a bit silly. Is he as good as Brandon Royval? Not quite. But basically no one else is either.

That’s not to say that Taira’s performance was above reproach. He certainly showed a number of enormous holes. Royval pieced Taira up on the feet and the Japanese fighter also maybe showed a lack of cardio for five round fights. But those are things we’d expect from a young fighter who has basically never had to develop a B game. I fully expect this to be one of those losses that is hugely beneficial for Taira.

Now on to the question: I think Taira beats Mokaev but I’m in no way certain of that. That is a matchup of two very similar fighters. Both are exceptional grapplers, Mokaev is the better wrestler but Taira is the more dangerous finisher with a few more tricks. Ultimately, I think it comes down to the striking and while Taira is not very good on the feet, he’s shown more than Mokaev has at this point so I’ll favor him.

PFL’s big night

“I think we can all agree in saying Ngannou vs Ferreira doesn’t go the distance, but what’s the most preferable outcome for the PFL? Is it Ngannou knocking out Ferreira or would it be their homegrown guy knocking out the lineal UFC champion, who never lost his belt in the cage?”

Francis Ngannou takes on Renan Ferreira in the main event of PFL’s latest PPV offering this Saturday and I think it’s safe to say this is the most important event of PFL’s existence.

Almost two years ago the PFL backed up the Brinks truck for Ngannou and now he is finally going to compete for them. Is that going to matter? Are people going to tune in because Francis Ngannou is fighting, because that was basically the calculus when PFL signed him: that Ngannou brings both cache and eyeballs. A year ago when Ngannou arguably should have beaten Tyson Fury, that might have been true. Now that Anthony Joshua put him on a stretcher? Unsure.

Aside from needing Ngannou to be a star, the PFL also really needs him to win. I’m not sure if Ngannou is a PPV draw in general, but I am certain he’s not the kind of star that can springboard others to stardom off of beating him. If Ferreira comes out and sleeps Ngannou, the only thing that happens is that the MMA world collectively says, “Well, Francis was gone for almost three years and just got savagely KOed. Guess Tom Aspinall really is the top guy right now.” Sure, Renan Ferreira would be the lineal champion, but that will be all but meaningless at that point in time. No one will care.

So yeah, the PFL needs Francis to come through and uppercut Ferreira out of the cage, remind people why they were so excited to get him in the first place and, hopefully, generate enough interest to have a successful PPV outing.

Big pressure on Big Francis this weekend.

Cris Cyborg and Larissa Pacheco

“What does the future hold for cyborg and Pacheco after this weekend? Kayla will have no real threats for a long time once she takes the belt from Pena.”

Genuinely I have no idea. Pacheco vs. Cyborg is a quality fight that has two enormous issues with it. First is that Cyborg is ancient in fight years. Cyborg has had a wonderful career but frankly the only reason it’s continued this long is because women’s featherweight isn’t a real division, so she’s feasted on overmatched and/or underweight opposition. Pacheco is the first woman Cyborg will have fought since Julia Budd who is actually capable and physically comparable. She’s probably going to get her ass kicked.

Which is all well and good for Pacheco, who is a great fighter, but that leads to problem two: there is nothing else for Pacheco to do after this. I’m honestly a bit surprised that Cyborg didn’t just retire from MMA instead of take this fight but it’s great for Pacheco she didn’t. At least Pacheco gets this one fight for the resume, but after this Pacheco then just moves into the same place Cyborg spent most of her career: having no one to fight.

My best guess is that if/when Pacheco wins, they just run back another tournament next year and she competes in it because she makes a bundle of money and it’s not like the promotion has real “superfights” to offer her. And as for Cyborg, I suspect this is it for her MMA career and she can move back on to pursuing boxing.

UFC 310

“Now that they announced Shavkat vs. Belal I can think of several exciting matchups at the top of the 170 lb division. Is this the best the division has looked in the last decade? Can you rate the divisions by talent?”

If you missed it, the big fights for UFC 310 got announced this week and the event will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov. Reason won out and it’s going to rule. Either Belal pulls off the upset and truly proves himself to be one of the best fighters in the world right now, or Shavkat finally receives his crown and welterweight has a no-doubt-about-it exciting champion for the first time since Robbie Lawler. Win-win.

As for the state of the welterweight division, maybe? It’s true that for the past couple of years the welterweight division has fallen off some, particularly in comparison with weight classes like 155 of 135; and now we do have this crop of new names coming through and making things interesting, which is exciting, but a decade is a long time.

The golden age of welterweight (thus far) was probably Georges St-Pierre’s initial years as champion when the entire top-10 were some of the best fighters alive. But if you look back to 2016, that’s a pretty good crop of fighters as well. Tyron Woodley is champion, Stephen Thompson is at the peak of his powers, Demian Maia is still hanging around, Usman and Colby Covington are on the come-up, along with Leon Edwards and Gilbert Burns. It’s only the past few years where things have felt stagnant because the old guard keeps hanging around. So no, I don’t think it’s the best of the past decade but it’s trending in an excellent direction.

And for rankings:

1. Lightweight
2. Bantamweight
3. Featherweight
4. Flyweight
5. Middleweight
6. Welterweight
7. Womens’ Flyweight
8. Women’s Strawweight
9. Light Heavyweight
10. Heavyweight
11. Women’s bantamweight

And truly the bottom three are interchangeably terrible.

Nick Diaz returns

“What should we expect out of Nick Diaz? Another sad performance? Or do you think he’s going to take this one serious?”

Also lined up for UFC 310 is the return of Nick Diaz, who will take on Vicente Luque. It’s a fight that was originally scheduled for UFC Abu Dhabi this year until “travel issues” popped up for Diaz (a.k.a. somebody finally remembered the very strict rules the UAE has surrounding marijuana). And I gotta tell you, it’s going to be terrible.

The issue is not “whether Nick takes this fight seriously,” it’s that Nick Diaz doesn’t have it anymore. To paraphrase the poet and scholar Cutty Wise, the game ain’t in him no more.

Nick is 41 years old. That alone is nearly disqualifying. On top of that, he’s only fought twice this decade: once in a farce of a bout with Anderson Silva and the other in a hard to watch beatdown against Robbie Lawler. The last time Nick Diaz won a fight, Barack Obama was barely into his first term as president. This isn’t a matter of want, it’s a matter of capability.

I do not know why Nick Diaz is coming back. I hope it’s not because he has to but mostly I hope he gets out of this fight as unscathed as possible. The fact that Luque also looks to be on the well-done side of cooked makes this at least more tolerable than the Lawler matchup, but barely.

Maybe I’m wrong and Nick comes back and looks incredible, but I’m anticipating this to be one of the worst parts of MMA this year. I guess we’ll see.

Thanks for reading, and thank you for everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira will battle for a brand new championship belt this Saturday.

The massive heavyweights headline this weekend’s PFL pay-per-view event, and battle for the PFL Superfight heavyweight title in Saudi Arabia. The bout will be Ngannou’s first for the promotion since vacating the UFC heavyweight title to sign with PFL.

On Monday, PFL revealed the new Superfight titles that Ngannou and Ferreira — along with Cris Cyborg and Larissa Pacheco — will be fighting for. Check out the new belts below.

Ngannou competes in an MMA fight for the first time since defeating Ciryl Gane in a UFC heavyweight title defense at UFC 270 in January 2022. Since then, “The Predator” has competed in the boxing ring, losing a pair of bouts to top-ranked heavyweights Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

Ferreira has stopped his past four opponents, including Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in 21 seconds at PFL vs. Bellator in February.

Cyborg makes her promotional debut, and first MMA appearance in over a year. The Bellator women’s featherweight champ picked up two boxing knockouts in her two combat appearances in 2024.

Pacheco enters the matchup coming off of back-to-back $ 1 million PFL championships, including a victory over now-UFC fighter Kayla Harrison at the PFL World Championships 2022 event.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Alex Pereira didn’t impress Jamahal Hill at UFC 307.

This past weekend, Pereira picked up his third win of 2024, successfully defending his light heavyweight title with a fourth-round TKO of Khalil Rountree Jr. After the fight, Hill — who was in attendance — was caught on camera with a mocking yawn, which prompted Pereira to clown Hill in his post-fight press conference. But Hill stands by it.

“It’s crazy how y’all see a clip with no context, no nothing, and y’all just be ready to talk shit and just attack and come disrespectful as ever,” Hill said on his YouTube channel. “It’s hilarious… I never said the fight was boring…

“It was an entertaining fight. You saw some adversity, you saw adjustments and game plan. That’s one thing I will give Alex credit for, he adjusted his game plan a few times in that fight until he ultimately found his way to the finish and to the victory. So I will give him credit for that.

“Now, to the yawn at the end. Was it entertaining? Yes. Was I impressed? No. I’m not impressed… Did I see anything in the cage that scares me or that I didn’t expect to see? No.”

Pereira knocked Hill out in the first round at UFC 300 back in April, and since then the former light heavyweight champion has continuously tried to pick a fight with “Poatan.” And Hill still seems committed to that plan.

“To be honest with you, I’m glad Alex won,” Hill said. “I’m happy Alex won, because I want him to be as big of a giant in your minds as possible the next time I face him.

“At this point, I don’t care, he can go Magomed [Ankalaev] next, if he fights him, and he can lose. That’s the fight that I want. I don’t want the belt. I want that fight.”

Since UFC 300, Pereira has added two more knockout wins to his resume, with successful title defenses against Jiri Prochazka and now this recent victory over Rountree. In contrast, Hill has yet to step back into the cage since his loss, but “Sweet Dreams” promises that’s coming soon enough.

“As far as what’s next, a contract is already on the way, name is already hit the desk,” Hill said. “Touch-Em-Up University will be in session, class will be in session soon.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

A welterweight fight with fireworks written all over it has just been added to UFC 310 as Bryan Battle looks to extend his four-fight unbeaten streak when he faces Randy Brown on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the matchup to MMA Fighting on Monday after Battle’s management team initially announced the fight.

Battle scored his latest victory at UFC Paris in September when he took out Kevin Jousset with a vicious second round TKO and improving his overall record with the promotion to 6-1 with one no contest along the way. Following his most recent win, Battle hoped for an even bigger matchup in his next fight and the UFC obviously granted his wish.

Meanwhile, Brown looks for his fourth win in a row in the welterweight division after taking out Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, Muslim Salikhov and Wellington Turman in consecutive appearances. Brown was briefly linked to a potential fight against streaking welterweight contender Carlos Prates but the Brazilian ended up booked against Neil Magny in November instead.

Now Brown faces off with Battle in a potential fight that could earn the winner a top 15 ranking.

UFC 310 is headlined by a pair of title fights as Belal Muhammad defense his welterweight crown against Shavkat Rakhmonov while Alexandre Pantoja faces former RIZIN champion Kai Asakura in a flyweight title bout.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Reinier de Ridder is ready for a fresh start after leaving his former home at ONE Championship and inking a deal to join the UFC roster.

There’s no secret that things gotten contentious between the Singapore based promotion and several fighters over the past couple of years but de Ridder isn’t trying to bash his former employers now that he has a new home. Like any job, de Ridder says there was good and bad about his years spent in ONE Championship but he definitely knew it was time for a change.

“It’s been good for a long time and it’s been bad for a pretty long time now as well,” de Ridder told MMA Fighting. “I think they’re struggling in a sense and some stuff is not being handled the way it should be but it is what it is.

“I had a very good run in the beginning. They gave me a lot of fights. In ONE, I was able to make it a full time thing with fighting. So I’m very grateful for that part. But the last couple of years weren’t that great.”

After fighting three times in 2022, de Ridder’s activity dwindled without a single fight in 2023 and then only competing once in 2024 before ultimately leaving the promotion. He did make an appearance in 2023 for a grappling match under the ONE umbrella but his activity was obviously far greater earlier in his career.

When his contract ended, de Ridder fought once for UAE Warriors before signing his deal to join the UFC roster. He never knew for certain if he was going to fight for the UFC but de Ridder admits every fighter dreams about that opportunity at one time or another.

“I’m looking forward to getting in there,” de Ridder said about his UFC debut. “Looking forward to getting some activity. I’m very happy, very psyched, it’s cool.

“It’s the league we all look up to. Every fighter wants to fight in the UFC. Every fan wants to watch UFC. It’s been asked a lot of times over the years so it’s very cool to finally be there. Of course, it was clear I wasn’t going to keep going with ONE. But there were different options. But when you start fighting, when you start this crazy career, everybody wants to fight in the UFC. I’m getting to the later stages of my career so this was the moment to either go get it or never do it again. I had to go to UFC.”

Despite holding two titles simultaneously in ONE, de Ridder admits the announcement that he signed with UFC got him more attention than anything he experienced with his former promotion.

“That’s the crazy part,” de Ridder said. “I went through every stage of an MMA fighter’s career. I went from unranked to title challenger to two-division champion and it always got some traction. People liked it and respected it.

“But now I just started all over again. So I go fight unranked again [in UFC] and it’s a bigger deal than becoming a two-division champion. It’s funny.”

As far as the biggest differences between the two organizations, de Ridder pointed to a pair of changes that he’s actually excited about now that he’s with the UFC.

“The UFC is the UFC of course, so it was always the goal,” de Ridder said. “Always in the back of my mind. There’s a lot of different perks over ONE. Next to that, the weight thing is a bit more clear, there’s drug testing. It’s just better.”

When it comes to weight classes, ONE actually instituted much different rules than those used by the UFC or other promotions in the United States. ONE has hydration testing in hopes of curbing extreme weight cuts and the divisions there were altered so every weight class is actually different than those in other promotions.

For instance, de Ridder previously reigned as champion at both middleweight and light heavyweight but in ONE middleweight is from 185 to 205 pounds while light heavyweight is 205 to 225 pounds. In organizations like the UFC, middleweight stops at 185 pounds before moving up to light heavyweight.

De Ridder says the early implementation of the hydration testing and the weight class changes were good at ONE but over time he feels the program just didn’t work.

“The idea of the hydration test was amazing,” de Ridder said. “In the beginning, they had some secondary measures to be sure that you really were around that weight when you fought as well. But over the years, those were eroded a bit and the guys just kept getting bigger and I was the only dummy who still made the 93kgs (205 pounds) with breakfast and some water. Some stuff’s changed there on this point.

“Look I’m not looking forward to the weight cut and there is still a way to negate the weight cut. There is a way to stop all the fighters from cutting weight but the hydration test is not enough, as you’ve seen.”

When it comes to drug testing, ONE Championship actually stated as far back as 2019 that athletes were being tested but de Ridder says his bigger concerns came down to the out-of-competition testing required under the UFC’s anti-doping program.

“In this regard, the UFC is the place to go,” de Ridder said. “America is the place to be for fighting clean athletes. That’s just better.”

Perhaps what he’s happiest about with his move is that the 34-year-old Dutch fighter is getting back to business sooner rather than later with his first fight in the UFC booked for Nov. 9 against Gerald Meerschaert.

He pays credit to his manager Ali Abdelaziz for wasting no time getting the deal done and helping him book a fight and de Ridder promises that he’s going to soak in every aspect of this opportunity.

“I’m very, very grateful for this,” de Ridder said. “Ali is working his magic.

“It’s pretty cool. This is something I put my mind to, to try and enjoy all this stuff as well. I’ve always been a bit of a hater with all the interviews and all the people coming up to me and asking me stuff. But I’m trying to bit more grateful about this stuff.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Francis Ngannou comes home this Saturday.

OK, technically he’s actually entering new stomping grounds as he makes his long-awaited league debut at PFL: Ngannou vs. Ferreira a.k.a. “Battle of the Giants” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But he is returning to the ruleset under which he built his reputation as he competes in MMA for the first time since January 2022, and the first time since parting ways with the UFC the following year.

Ngannou is still the lineal heavyweight champion having never lost his belt inside the octagon, so the stakes are high as he takes on 2023 PFL tournament champion Renan Ferreira. A vintage performance by “The Predator” could inject new life into the league, while the slightest slip-up could invite a fresh wave of criticism for MMA’s self-proclaimed co-leader.

MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew, Damon Martin, and Alexander K. Lee got together to discuss the ramifications of the main event, plus Cris Cyborg making a return of her own against Larissa Pacheco, and else to watch for this Saturday.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

1. What does it mean for Francis Ngannou (and the PFL) if he loses?

Meshew: I’m honestly not sure. For either.

On the one hand, Francis losing in his first fight with the promotion is catastrophic for PFL. It mortgaged the farm to land Ngannou and thus far he’s spent all of his time boxing. If his first foray into the SmartCage is a loss? Well, that’s obviously less than ideal for Donn Davis and company. And for Ngannou, it would be his third loss in a row and probably the end of his days as a major draw, to the extent that is a thing.

On the other hand, does it really matter for either of them? Ngannou is playing with house money given how much he’s made already from his boxing endeavors. And as for the PFL, it certainly isn’t promoting this like Ngannou losing would be a big deal.

For Ngannou’s debut, I anticipated a lot of the promotion would center around the best thing the company has going for it: this is the legitimate lineal heavyweight champion of the world, the baddest man on the planet. Not since the days of PRIDE has a non-UFC promotion been able to make that claim and instead PFL is going with a generic rebrand of Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua and “Knockout Chaos.” An Ngannou loss is less seismic for it promotionally, and maybe that’s the idea. Perhaps PFL doesn’t trust a 38-year-old fighter who hasn’t competed in the sport in nearly three years and is coming off a brutal knockout loss.

And honestly, I don’t blame them.

Martin: Potentially the end?

Not to seem overdramatic but that’s at least a somewhat realistic possibility for Ngannou if he gets nuked by Renan Ferreira, who is a solid prospect but nowhere near the caliber of opponent “The Predator” has faced and defeated in the past. At 38, Ngannou still has plenty of tread left on the tires for a heavyweight because fighters in that division don’t seem to peak until their mid-30s, but it’s impossible to ignore that he just scored back-to-back paydays in boxing and a devastating loss would effectively put him in limbo without a lot of great options awaiting him in the future. For all the fighters the PFL has helped make millionaires over the past few years, not many have become household names and even fewer have broken through the stranglehold that the UFC maintains over the top 15 rankings.

Sure, Ngannou could lose and then bounce back against the Valentin Moldavskys and Tim Johnsons of the world—both of whom fight in the PFL—but is that going to justify the massive investment the PFL made to sign him away from the UFC? A better question might be are people going to be willing to put down $ 50 to watch any of those fights?

Does the PFL just crash and burn if Ngannou loses? Of course not. But Ngannou falling in his debut would definitely hurt. It’s tough enough that PFL signed him all the way back in May 2023 and he’s just now making his debut a year and a half later, but watching him lose in his first fight with the promotion would be a brutal blow after stealing him away from the UFC while he was still holding the heavyweight title.

Lee: Ngannou has to win.

I’ll say it again: Ngannou has to win.

A Ferreira win won’t be the death knell for PFL as they’re solid on the business side of things, but in the court of public opinion, they’re cooked for at least a couple of years if Ngannou doesn’t deliver. So much had been made about acquiring Ngannou when he was the hottest free agent in MMA history, the true heavyweight champion, and a potential crossover boxing star, that a failure to deliver on all of that promise will be disastrous. After such a long layoff from cagefighting, this is a star waiting to be reignited, and to PFL’s credit, they’re giving him the platform to shine.

It’s a nice fantasy to think that Ferreira would get enough of a rub from beating Ngannou that he could become one of the faces of the league, but let’s be serious, this is MMA where fans think everyone sucks. The trolling of Ngannou will be a hundred times the praise for Ferreira. It’s not fair, but it is combat sports.

The PFL needs this, not because I believe Ngannou alone can take them to another level of notoriety, but because without him validating a historic signing, it could drop down several levels in terms of credibility.

Ngannou. Has. To. Win.

Photo by Matt Davies/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

2. Who wins Cyborg vs. Pacheco and where does the winner go from there?

Lee: Cyborg rides again.

Call me a sucker or maybe I’m making up for a long stretch of fandom where I wasn’t the all-time great’s biggest supporter, but I’m not convinced that Cyborg is done just yet. Respectfully, she’s never fought the best competition, so nitpicking her recent results is in act of futility as, with rare exception, she’s done what she’s always done: Beat the brakes off of whoever they put in front of her.

I’m a huge advocate for Pacheco, especially given that she’s overcome a ton of adversity as a fighter, first being thrown to the wolves in the UFC when she was nowhere near ready and then twice being denied seven-figure paydays by the existence of Kayla Harrison. Guess what? Pacheco overcame that and she’s now clearly one of the best women fighters in the world, regardless of division. She’s not done yet either.

When it comes to this head-to-head meeting though, give me the legend still near the peak of her powers, who I actually expect to benefit from her boxing sojourns. Like with Harrison, I could see Pacheco winning a rematch down the road should she get the opportunity, but on Saturday it will be a triumphant return for Cyborg as she sets herself up to retire on her own terms sometime in the next couple of years.

Meshew: I’m going with Larissa Pacheco because she’s extremely good at fighting and also not old as dirt.

Cyborg is 39 and has been fighting for nearly 20 years. That’s a lot of miles on the odometer and it’s clearly caught up with her. The only reason Cyborg hasn’t looked worse as of late is because women’s featherweight is a disaster of a division and she’s fought a motley crew of undersized and overmatched opposition. Bellator had so few people to feed to Cyborg they ran back an Arlene Blencowe rematch 18 months later! I’m honestly shocked Cyborg didn’t retire years ago, but now Pacheco might beat it into her.

As for where she goes, honest to Optimus Prime I have no idea. Women’s featherweight is simply not a real weight class. There are only a handful of fighters that even compete in it and she’s beaten most of them already! I guess Pacheco can just do the Cyborg thing and hang around and dominate for years on end against whatever opposition PFL can drag up, because aside from that, I truly have no clue what you do with her after she beats Cyborg.

Martin: I’ll stick with the hot hand here and pick Larissa Pacheco to win as well.

Considering the amount of experience that Pacheco has racked up since debuting in the UFC back in 2014, she’s still only 30 years old and seemingly in her prime right now. Cutting down to bantamweight never worked out well for her, but Pacheco really hit her stride when she found out what she could do competing at both 145 and 155 pounds. She hasn’t lost in nearly five years and yes, as the PFL will gladly remind you, she holds the only win over Kayla Harrison (Pacheco also lost to her twice in the past as well, but went to a decision booth times).

Meanwhile, Cyborg is 39 and you could argue her last truly meaningful win came back in 2019 when she beat Felicia Spencer in the UFC. Yes, Cyborg beat a veteran in Cat Zingano in her most recent MMA fight in October 2023, but Zingano isn’t a featherweight and at 42, she’s not exactly young in the game either. Add to that, Cyborg has spent a lot of time lately training to win lopsided boxing matches and it feels like she’s ready sing her swan song sooner than later.

So what happens to Pacheco? Well, she becomes the new Cris Cyborg — an imposing brute of a fighter competing in a weight class that doesn’t really exist and the PFL can only hope that Harrison goes onto win UFC gold so that serves as more promotional fodder for them.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

3. What fight outside of the top 2 has you most intrigued?

Martin: Well of course it’s Husein Kadimagomaev vs. Zafar Mohsen! No, I’m only kidding.

Yes, it’s A.J. McKee vs. Paul Hughes for any number of reasons, but perhaps at the top of the list is these are two fighters PFL can really push for the future. At his peak, McKee was viewed as one of the top two or three featherweights on the planet and he’s making a pretty good name for himself at lightweight now. Hughes is a top prospect from Ireland who passed on a UFC offer to instead sign with the PFL.

An argument could be made that this might be too much, too soon for Hughes in only his second fight for the promotion but he’s promised he’s ready for the step up in competition. Also at this point, we should all know that McKee is the real deal.

And the reward for the winner? A showdown against Usman Nurmagomedov — an undefeated Russian mauler who might actually be the second best lightweight in the world behind his teammate and friend, Islam Makhachev.

Lee: I won’t stand for this Johnny Eblen disrespect.

It wasn’t long ago that Bellator’s middleweight king was considered by our rankings panel to be close to a spot on the pound-for-pound list, which is no small feat when you’re competing outside of UFC. One less-than-flattering split nod over Impa Kasanganay and now everyone is abandoning ship? For shame.

Eblen certainly isn’t known for being an all-action brawler, but the man just knows how to win and he’ll probably do so again in his rematch with Fabian Edwards. He finished Edwards in the third round last time and if he can top that performance, it could remind fans why his name is frequently mentioned among the best of the best.

And maybe it even greases the wheels towards an eventual UFC move, which would really get folks talking.

Meshew: Is this a trick question? It’s obviously A.J. McKee vs. Paul Hughes. Anyone who says anything different is a liar.

McKee was an elite featherweight, but might actually be one of the very best lightweights in the world. The kid is all gas, no brakes. Honestly, I want him in the UFC already to start mixing it up with all the great fighters there.

On the other side of things, Paul Hughes is an elite prospect. I was a bit surprised when he didn’t sign with the UFC, but I don’t blame him for that. He’s going to build his brand massively over in PFL and then come to the UFC in a few years time like Justin Gaethje or Michael Chandler did.

This fight is the best fight of the entire weekend and I couldn’t be more excited for it.

MMA Fighting – All Posts