π¨ BREAKING π¨
HE’S BACK!πThe Return of @francis_ngannou4β£πππππππππ2β£π¦π¨π£ππ₯ πππππ§ ππππ§π¦ π’π‘ π§ππ πππ‘π1β£Gigantic night of MMA
and it all goes down on October 19th
#PFLSuperFights pic.twitter.com/mDHCFd6PBp
β PFL (@PFLMMA)
August 7, 2024
Professional Fighters League is going big for its second
pay-per-view event of 2024.
The organization announced on Wednesday that the card will be
headlined by a heavyweight clash between former
UFC champ Francis
Ngannou and 2023 PFL champion Renan
Ferreira. In the co-main event, reigning Bellator
MMA featherweight title holder Cris
Cyborg will square off against 2023 PFL 145-pound queen
Larissa
Pacheco.
The PFL pay-per-view event β which is titled βBattle of the Giants:
Brace for Impactβ β takes place on Oct. 19 and is available via
ESPN+. A venue and a price point for the card were not announced.
In both bouts, PFL Super Fights Championship Belts will be on the
line.
Ngannou will be making his first MMA appearance since January 2022,
when he defended his heavyweight crown with a unanimous decision
triumph over Ciryl Gane
at UFC 270. βThe Predatorβ is currently on a six-fight winning
streak, with additional victories over Stipe
Miocic, Jairzinho
Rozenstruik, Junior dos
Santos, Cain
Velasquez and Curtis
Blaydes to his credit. During his hiatus from the cage, Ngannou
tried his hand at professional boxing, battling Tyson Fury
to a closely-contested split decision this past October before
suffering a second-round knockout loss against Anthony
Joshua in March.
Ferreira, meanwhile, vanquished Matheus
Scheffel, Maurice
Greene and Denis
Goltsov to capture the 2023 PFL heavyweight crown. βProblemaβ
returned at the PFL vs. Bellator Champs event on Feb. 24, when he
stopped Ryan Bader in
just 24 seconds.
Cyborg will carry a seven-bout winning streak into her matchup with
Pacheco. The reigning Bellator champion last competed at Bellator
300, where she defeated Cat Zingano
via first-round TKO this past October. Cyborg hasnβt lost since
falling to Amanda
Nunes via first-round knockout at UFC 232 in December 2018.
Pachecoβs recent run of success is reminiscent of Cyborgβs
dominance. The 29-year-old Brazilian has won 10 straight contests,
finishing seven of those inside of a round. Pacheco upset Kayla
Harrison to claim the 2022 PFL lightweight championship, and
she followed that up with four consecutive victories at 145 pounds
to become the promotionβs featherweight queen last year.