Three fighters have been removed, creating another slew of last-minute changes to an already shifting card.
This week’s lightweight and featherweight talents will get to shine in PFL, and the organization should hope that the action makes up for the patchwork needed for it to happen.
Former WSOF champion and last year’s tournament winner Lance Palmer (17-3) headlines this event against Alex Gilpin (12-1), a scrappy submission specialist out of Wisconsin that won against JR Coughran in Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series last year. For whatever reason, he was not signed despite having a great submission win, but ends up in a tournament for a million dollars in a varied and competitive field.
Former UFC fighter Chris Wade (14-5) returns after going 2-2 in last year’s PFL run, and he’ll be welcoming one of New England’s best-kept secrets in Nate Andrews (15-1). Nicknamed “The Snake“, Andrews is absolutely lethal with his grappling and submission game from pretty much anywhere.
Andre Harrison (20-1) had not one, but two opponents changed on him, as Freddy Assunçao bowed out due to injury, as did Luiz Garagorri. He now faces former Titan FC fighter Peter Petties (8-4), who has a loss to current UFC fighter Julio Arce. Last year’s lightweight champion Natan Schulte (15-3) turned plenty of heads in his finals victory against Rashid Magomedov, and he’ll be greeting 25-year-old Chinese talent Yincan Bao (13-7). Schulte is showing himself to be the real deal, whereas Bao has yet to net any wins over significant opposition, but is still growing as a fighter.
Ramsey Nijem (10-7) gets an automatic 3 points this week, as he won’t be fighting due to his opponent being pulled from the card. Originally scheduled to fight Ronys Torres, Nijem moves on without penalty. As for Torres, no reason has been provided as of yet by the New York State Athletic Commission, but he won’t be participating in this week’s event.
Brazil’s Luis Rafael (33-1) was set to make his much anticipated U.S. debut against former WSOF champion Alexandre de Almeida, but de Almeida missed weight by a pound and will be replaced by Canada’s own Jeremy Kennedy, who was originally scheduled to fight Alexandre Bezerra. Much like Renan Barão, Bezerra passed out in the tub while cutting weight and had seven pounds left to go according to MMA Fighting.
Former UFC and LFA fighter Damon Jackson (16-2, 1 draw) is a pretty big get for PFL, and he should be putting on a show against undefeated Fight Nights Global vet Movlid Khaibulaev, making his stateside debut at featherweight. Finally, last year’s featherweight runner-up Steven Siler pulled off some miraculous comebacks and never had a dull fight in 2018. He looks to pick up where he left off against Gadzi Rabadanov (11-3, 2 draws).
Full card is as follows:
Lance Palmer (145.2) vs Alex Gilpin (145.4)
Chris Wade (155.4) vs Nate Andrews (155.6)
Andre Harrison (145.8) vs Peter Petties (144.6)
Akhmed Aliev (155.4) vs Carlao Silva (154.8)
Islam Mamedov (155.6) vs Ylies Djiroun (155.4)
Rashid Magomedov (154.8) vs Loik Radzhabov (155.6)
Natan Schulte (155) vs Bao Yincang (154.8)
Luis Rafael Laurentino (145.4) vs Jeremy Kennedy (145.4)
Damon Jackson (145.2) vs Movlid Khaybulaev (145.8)
Steven Siler (145.4) vs Gadzhi Rabadanov (145.6)
PFL 2019 #2 starts with the prelims on ESPN2 at 7:00pm, and the main card at 9:00pm on ESPN+ (both times EST).