WSOF/Lucas Noonan
Lightweights and featherweights are sorted out to see who goes to the big dance in Vegas later this year.
The road to the $1 million prize has been a long but fun one in all of PFL’s divisions this year, and tonight we get to see the featherweight and lightweight fields get narrowed down to see who will battle it out for the grand prize in December.
Lance Palmer (16-2) had his original opponent Gadzi Rabanadov unable to compete, which sets up a rubber match against and Alexandre de Almeida (21-9). The two battled it out World Series of Fighting for the featherweight belt, with de Almeida winning the first bout with a shocking decision upset in 2015, and Palmer avenging that loss the following year with a decision win of his own. de Almeida’s sole participation in PFL this year resulted in a decision win over Peter Petties in late July, and this should make for an intriguing replacement despite the ups and downs he’s suffered since losing the title to Palmer.
Luis Rafael Laurentino (34-2) ran into a buzzsaw when he faced Lance Palmer in his last outing, but won’t let that stop him from going back to his winning ways against Canadian Jeremy Kennedy (14-2). This is a rematch from their encounter in March where Luis finished Kennedy with a stunner of a headkick.
Remember, winners will fight other winners on the same event to determine the finalists. Same goes for the featherweights.
Andre Harrison [21-1] won a decision against Peter Petties and a draw against Movlid Khaybulaev, but it got him here to this spot. He’d better protect his neck though, because Alex Gilpin (13-2) isn’t coming to play. Just watch what he did to Freddy Assunçao. this should be a hot fight between two strong wrestlers not afraid to mix it up.
Islam Mamedov (18-1) continues to display excellence, having feasted on Yincang Bao earlier this year. He’ll meet Tajikistan’s finest, Loik Radzhabov [12-1].
While Jorge Masvidal is far and away the main contender for knockout of the year so far, Movlid Khaybulaev (14-0, 1 draw) is also on the shortlist. He started 2019 off strong against Damon Jackson, and had the previously addressed draw against Harrison. Now he welcomes Daniel Pineda to PFL, despite Pineda not competing in the regular season.
Confused? There’s more. Natan Schulte (17-3, 1 draw) won the lightweight tournament last year and had a set of breakout performances en route to that. Submitting Yincang Bao and earning a decision nod over Jesse Ronson got him here, and he’s up against Ramsey Nijem (10-7). Nijem was scheduled to fight Schulte in July and missed weight, and this was after a cancelled bout between Nijem and Ronnys Torres after Torres missed weight. Nijem got three points and paid his show and win money. Good deal if you can get it.
Main Card (bout order subject to change):
Akhmed Aliev (155.4) vs Rashid Magomedov(155.2) – Lightweight quarterfinal
Islam Mamedov (155.2) vs Loik Radzhabov (154.4) – Lightweight quarterfinal
Chris Wade (155.4) vs Nate Andrews (155.6) – Lightweight quarterfinal
Prelims (bout order subject to change):
Natan Schulte (155.2) vs Ramsey Nijem (155.8) – Lightweight quarterfinal
Lance Palmer (145.8) vs Alexandre de Almeida (145.0) – Featherweight quarterfinal
Alex Gilpin (145.8) vs Andre Harrison (145.2) – Featherweight quarterfinal
Movlid Khaybulaev (145.4) vs Daniel Pineda (145.4) – Featherweight quarterfinal
Luis Rafael Laurentino(145.8) vs Jeremy Kennedy (145.6) – Featherweight quarterfinal
PFL 2019 #8: Playoffs starts with the prelims at 8:00pm on ESPN+, followed by the main card on ESPN2 at 10:30pm EST.