Professional Fighters League (PFL) signed a pair of “Kongs.”
MMAMania.com confirmed with multiple sources that PFL has signed former Top 15 Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight Alexandr Romanov and Flyweight-turned Bantamweight Jake Hadley.
Romanov and Hadley will compete in the new and improved 2025 tournament, where they can win $500k and a championship belt.
Their opponents are TBD at the time of his writing.
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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Without knowing the full Heavyweight PFL roster, there is no doubt that Romanov (18-3) should be a heavy favorite to win the tournament because of the work he did inside the Octagon.
“King Kong” was surprisingly released after his last fight, where he defeated Rodrigo Nascimento in a dreadful unanimous decision. He was ranked No. 13 at the time of his release.
Romanov ended his UFC career with a 7-3 record but scored wins over Blagoy Ivanov, Chase Sherman, and The Ultimate Fighter winner Juan Espino.
The 34-year-old Romanian also scored a super-rare submission win in his second UFC fight when he put Marcos Rogerio de Lima to sleep with a forearm choke (watch highlights).
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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Hadley (11-4) will remain at Bantamweight for the upcoming PFL season after competing at 125 lbs for most of his career. He went up to Bantamweight for a short-notice fight against Caolan Loughran at UFC 304 (which he won) and decided it was the better weight for him in the long run.
“White Kong” was released with a 3-4 UFC record after losing to a debuting Cameron Smotherman.
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