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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The UFC and PFL go head-to-head on Saturday, with the PFL putting on arguably the most important event in company history with Battle of the Giants, headlined by the MMA return of Francis Ngannou as he battles fellow knockout artist Renan Ferreira. While the stakes are certainly higher in Saudi Arabia, the UFC is bringing a fascinating middleweight main event between Anthony Hernandez and Michel Pereira.

Ahead of Saturday’s doubleheader, MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Mike Heck preview both events, discuss the burning questions surrounding Ngannou vs. Ferreira, the returning Cris Cyborg facing Larissa Pacheco, Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards 2, and A.J. McKee vs. Paul Hughes. Additionally, they’ll discuss the Hernandez vs. Pereira five-rounder at the APEX, the heavily-favored Kyler Phillips facing perennial ranked bantamweight Rob Font in the co-main event, answer your questions, and much more.

Catch the PFL: Battle of the Giants and UFC Vegas 99 preview show above. An audio-only version of the show can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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The PFL’s latest pay-per-view event takes place on Saturday night, and MMA News is here to bring you the final faceoffs from the ceremonial weigh-ins!

PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants takes place at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Oct. 19, where the main attraction will see former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou make his long-awaited return to mixed martial arts.

Having not competed in the cage since a victory over Ciryl Gane in January 2022 — completing a pair of boxing matches opposite Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in the period since — “The Predator” will look to make an emphatic MMA comeback at the expense of last year’s PFL heavyweight title winner, Renan Ferreira.

Setting the stage for the headliners will be another Super Fights championship clash, with reigning Bellator featherweight queen Cris Cyborg debuting in the SmartCage opposite the PFL’s first two-weight champion, Larissa Pacheco.

Elsewhere, Bellator gold will be on the line in the Middle East when middleweight champ Johnny Eblen runs it back with Fabian Edwards and the stakes will be high when the massively touted Paul Hughes gets a step up in competition against AJ McKee.

Ahead of the event, all 18 fighters successfully made weight. With that, every fight has remained intact, and all that remains on Friday is for the athletes to face off one final time at the PFL: Battle of the Giants ceremonial weigh-ins!

Check out a live stream via the official PFL YouTube channel below, commencing at 11:30 a.m. ET.

PFL Battle of the Giants Ceremonial Weigh-In Stream

Continue Reading PFL Battle Of The Giants: Ngannou vs. Ferreira Ceremonial Weigh-In Live Stream at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

It’s MMA double header this weekend as both the UFC and PFL are putting on events this Saturday. The biggest (both literally and metaphorically) is PFL Battle of the Giants, featuring the return of Francis Ngannou as he faces Renan Ferreira. That event also features a number of other marquee matchups including Cris Cyborg vs. Larissa Pacheco and Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards 2, among others. Then the UFC gives fans a wonderful little nightcap with UFC Vegas 99, headlined by a middleweight matchup between Anthony Hernandez and Michel Pereira.

With so much to choose from, let’s dive right into the bets this week.

All odds are courtesy of our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Straight Bets

Larissa Pacheco (-148)

Cyborg vs. Pacheco is arguably the best fight of the entire weekend. Featuring the No. 6 and No.7 ranked women in the MMA Fighting pound-for-pound rankings, it’s a bout that, on paper, should be exceptional. But I’m not convinced.

Cyborg is an all-time great but she’s also pushing 40 years old and hasn’t looked great in years. Her last meaningful win was Julia Budd and that was back in 2020. Since then it’s been a parade of undersized or woefully overmatched opposition. Now to be fair, Pacheco has had the same issue, but the difference between them is Pacheco at least is running roughshod over that opposition.

On top of that, Cyborg has seemed wildly disinterested all week, while this is the biggest fight possible for Pacheco. All this together makes me think the younger champion is in great position to get her hand raised on Saturday.

A.J. McKee (-176)

McKee takes on Paul Hughes in the main card opener of the PFL this weekend in a fight that may very well be the people’s main event. McKee is already a star and Hughes has all the trappings of a future one, he just needs the right wins. Unfortunately for “Big News” this won’t be one of those. McKee is simply too dynamic for the young Irishman, both on the feet and on the floor. I expect Hughes to give a good showing of himself, but this is a bit too much, too soon for Hughes.

Michel Pereira (+114)

Over in the UFC, the main event between “Fluffy” Hernandez and Pereira is an absolute banger. Hernandez is one of the middleweight division’s premier grapplers and Pereira is one of the sport’s premier wild men. Since moving up to 185 though, Pereira has been less wild and more “unstoppable killing machine.” Three fights, three first-round finishes, a combined fight time of three minutes and one second. “Demolidor” has been lethal since he stopped cutting so much weight, and I believe it will continue. Hernandez needs takedowns to win and Pereira stuffs those at a 94 percent rate. “Demolidor” continues to rise up the ranks.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Prop Bets

Asu Almabayev by KO/TKO (+750)

Why not have a little fun, eh?

The prelim main event over in the UFC features Almabayev taking on Matheus Nicolau in a battle of ranked flyweights. Almabayev is one of many new hotshot guys coming in at 125 pounds and why I actually think Nicolau is probably a little undervalued straight up, I like a flyer on this line for one reason: all four of Nicolau’s career losses have come via KO or TKO.

Almabayev is going to get takedowns and when the submission game fails him, then he may pivot to ground-and-pound. I think there’s some life in this big of a line here.

Jean Matsumoto By Points (+100)

Also on the UFC prelims, Matsumoto takes on two-time The Ultimate Fighter winner Brad Katona in a bantamweight matchup that should favor him heavily. Katona wants to wrestle and grind but Matsumoto is a vastly superior athlete and striker. I think he can stuff enough takedowns and win this fight on the feet, and since Katona has never been finished, this is a good price for what is essentially the way Matsumoto can win.

Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Parlays

Francis Ngannou (-260)

I am, frankly, shocked that the line on Ngannou has dropped this much. Don’t get me wrong, there are reasons to doubt him — he’s been out of MMA almost three years, he was brutally KOed earlier this year, his life has been hectic — but still, the gulf in accomplishment between Ferreira and Ngannou is VAST. Like, Grand Canyon vast.

Ferreira has come along in the PFL but this is also a man who lost to Rizvan Kuniev 18 months ago! That’s the same Kuniev who just went on Contender Series this year. His best win is Ryan Bader, a career light heavyweight! I like Ferreira but the only way he wins this is if Ngannou is totally shot, and I don’t see that.

Francis is faster, hits harder, has the better chin, and is a better striker than Ferreira. It only takes one, but I’ll be pretty surprised if that one lands on Ngannou this Saturday.

Johnny Eblen (-400)

In a similar vein, I’ll be flabbergasted if Fabian Edwards beats Johnny Eblen — because they fought 13 months ago and Eblen demolished him! Yes, Edwards started that fight well, but pretty clearly the moment Eblen decided to really fight, Edwards had nothing for him. I suspect this time Eblen won’t come out so flat and make a statement early over Edwards.

Parlay these two bets together for -212 odds

Wrap Up

Should be a great weekend of fights. Honestly, I’m pretty pumped about the main card of the PFL (the undercard, we don’t need to discuss) and this UFC card is pretty solid for an APEX show. Let’s enjoy it and then it’s on to UFC 308.

Until next week, enjoy the fights, good luck, and gamble responsibly!

All information in this article is provided to readers of MMA Fighting for entertainment, news, and amusement purposes only. It is the responsibility of the reader to learn and abide by online gambling laws in their region before placing any online sports betting wagers.

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UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Cris Cyborg will enter the PFL cage for the first time Saturday riding a 11-fight winning streak — MMA and boxing combined —, stopping six of her opponents with strikes, but none had the knockout power of her upcoming foe Larissa Pacheco.

Pacheco is a two-division PFL champion with 11 of her 23 MMA wins coming by way of knockout — including two sub-minute finishes during the 2023 season —, while Cyborg went 2-0 this year in boxing against overmatched opponents. Cyborg is a jiu-jitsu black belt under the legend Rubens Charles “Cobrinha,” and has placed third in the ADCC before, but Pacheco doesn’t expect the Bellator champion to avoid a stand-up war in Saudi Arabia.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t even know what her plans are,” Pacheco said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “My camp and training were focused on a broad plan, like I always do. I never focus on what my opponent is good at, on what she might do. I always focus on what I can get better at in case she tries to come up with something new — I mean my opponents in general, whoever I’m about to face. They might try to surprise me, so I better be prepared in all areas. What holes do I have to fix?

“I don’t know what she’s going to try and do, but one I can can guarantee you is that I’m ready for everything. I think it would surprise me [if she goes for takedowns] because of her history. She’s known for her striking and this style of moving forward and trading strikes and whatnot, so I believe she will trust that. Taking me down would be changing her style completely. It would be trying to show something that… I don’t know, but yeah, it would surprise me.”

Pacheco said she has met Cyborg at the UFC Performance Institute recently, while accompanying a friend who was about to fight in the octagon in Las Vegas, and said the veteran fighter was upset at her for something she had said during an interview after the fight was finally booked by the PFL.

“I think I said something in an interview and she was offended by it, but then I explained her what I said and what I had in mind,” Pacheco said. “Not that I was scared of her or anything like that, but out of respect. My word is my word, you know? If I had something to say I would go ahead and say it, but I won’t create trash talk out of nowhere just to sell a fight.”

“I’m always respectful towards my opponents and never take anything outside the cage,” she continued. “I know this hate is something that fans like, but I separate things. This is work, and that’s my personal life. I’m not the type of person to talk trash just to promote a fight. I know it doesn’t help my career because fans love this, but I can’t be someone I’m not.”

With no apparent animosity between the two knockout artists, Pacheco promises fireworks when the bell rings in Riyadh.

“I guarantee you that people won’t regret watching this fight,” Pacheco said. “Just match my style with hers and see what we do when we’re in the cage and there’s nothing else left to be said.”

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