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Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff Writer
The PFL will kick off its 2024 calendar with a pay-per-view event on Feb. 24 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, featuring landmark matchups between its 2023 PFL champions and their Bellator MMA counterparts.
The Champions vs. Champions event will be held inside Kingdom Arena, which was erected last year to house a boxing match between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou. It will officially mark the start of the PFL’s PPV Super Fight series, which differs from its traditional season and playoffs format. The event will air on ESPN+ and DAZN.
A heavyweight fight between PFL champion Renan Ferreira (12-3) and Bellator’s Ryan Bader (31-7) will serve as the main event. Last year’s light heavyweight PFL winner, Impa Kasanganay (15-3), will drop to middleweight to face Bellator champion Johnny Eblen (14-0). For welterweight champs, Magomed Magomedkerimov (34-6) of the PFL will face Bellator’s Jason Jackson (17-4). And PFL featherweight Jesus Pinedo (23-6-1) will take on longtime Bellator face Patricio Pitbull (35-7).
“The Middle East is the fight capital of the world and the Professional Fighters League is proud to bring the world’s best combat sports stars to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Riyadh Season to host the first-ever PFL PPV Super Fight mega-global event,” PFL CEO Peter Murray said in a statement.
PFL announced its acquisition of Bellator in late 2023, after months of rumors and speculation. The PFL intends to continue to operate Bellator as a separate entity for now but has the ability to pull certain athletes from the promotion to compete in PFL events.
In addition to the champion matchups listed above, other fights include former PFL heavyweight champion Bruno Cappelozza (15-6) taking on Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov (17-2), PFL’s Thiago Santos (22-11) against Bellator’s Yoel Romero (15-7) at light heavyweight, and PFL’s Clay Collard (24-11) against Bellator’s AJ McKee (21-1) at lightweight. Biaggio Ali Walsh, grandson of Muhammad Ali, will also make his professional MMA debut at the event.
The PFL PPV Super Fight series was announced in 2023, along with the signing of professional boxer and social media influencer Jake Paul to an MMA contract. Paul has not yet announced a date for his MMA debut. Ngannou, the former heavyweight champion of the UFC, is also expected to make an appearance eventually as part of the PFL’s PPV product.