Entering Thursday night’s intriguing slate of fights at PFL 5, only two featherweights (Luis Rafael Laurentino, Movlid Khaybulaev) and two lightweights (Akhmed Aliev, Natan Schulte) have six points and a clear advantage in the race for the playoffs.
Everything else is wide open and undetermined.
That parity is due, in part, to three fighters missing weight for PFL 5. After lightweights Ramsey Nijem and Carlao Silva and featherweight Gadzhi Rabadanov missed weight and lost their spots on the PFL 5 card at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the playoff picture for both divisions is hard to project.
At PFL 4, a similarly open scenario and the high stakes attached for everyone involved led to one of MMA’s most impressive nights in 2019, anchored by a series of early finishes that drastically altered the playoff bracket in the welterweight and women’s lightweight divisions.
Reigning featherweight champ Lance Palmer and reigning lightweight champ Natan Schulte hope to follow up on wins to open the season at PFL, in order to claim a high seed and continue on the path toward winning another $1 million and a second title, but they’re each facing a dangerous fighter in their second regular season fight.
Myron Medcalf is set to break down the Professional Fighters League action live throughout the night.
Loik Radzhabov (0 points) vs. Ylies Djiroun (0 points) (lightweight)
Fight in progress…
Still to come:
– Featherweight: Alexandre Almeida vs. Peter Petties
– Lightweight: Islam Mamedov vs. Bao Yincang
– Featherweight: Andre Harrison vs. Movlid Khaybulaev
– Lightweight: Natan Schulte vs. Jesse Ronson
– Featherweight: Steven Siler vs. Jeremy Kennedy
– Featherweight: Alex Gilpin vs. Freddy Assuncao
– Lightweight: Rashid Magomedov vs. Nate Andrews
– Featherweight: Lance Palmer vs. Luis Rafael Laurentino
– Lightweight: Chris Wade vs. Akhmed Aliev