First-ever PFL vs Bellator championship mega-event set for Feb. 24 in Riyadh

Professional Fighters League (PFL) — in partnership with General Entertainment Authority (GEA) — has announced its first-ever PFL vs. Bellator MMA “Champions vs. Champions” mega event, set to go down inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sat., Feb. 24, 2024.

The stacked pay-per-view (PPV) event will feature a whopping four title fights pitting the best from each promotion facing off against one another. Of course, PFL acquired Bellator MMA earlier this year in a massive deal that shook up the mixed martial arts (MMA) world.

While the plan is to keep both promotions running as separate entities with PFL having all of the control, the powers that be revealed highly-anticipated “champions vs. champions” mega events would take place. And now the first wave of massive title fights has been revealed.

Per the press release:

The first-ever PFL PPV Super Fight event will feature seven matchups between current and former champions, as well as title challengers from PFL and Bellator, and will be available on ESPN+ PPV and DAZN beginning at 3 pm ET. In addition, three major showcase bouts will take place during the preliminary card airing in the U.S. on ESPNEWS and ESPN+ in the U.S. beginning at 12 pm ET.

The first-ever event will be headlined by a Heavyweight title fight as PFL’s champion, Renan Ferreira, will battle it out against Bellator 265-pound champion, Ryan Bader. Ferreira recently won the 2023 PFL championship with a knockout win over Denis Goltsov in Nov. 2023, which was his third straight win (watch highlights). As for Bader, he is coming off his second knockout win over Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 290, his third straight title defense.

In further action, two-time PFL Welterweight season winner, Magomed Magomedkerimov, will face off against Bellator’s newest champion, Jason Jackson, who won the 170-pound strap by upsetting Yaroslav Amosov at Bellator 301, handing him his first-ever defeat by stopping him in the third round (highlights),

In the Featherweight division, newly-crowned PFL Featherweight king, Jesus Pinedo, will go toe-to-toe with the man many consider the face of Bellator, Patricio Pitbull. The Brazilian champion has lost two straight fights, but he is still the current Featherweight champion. He now looks to turn things around by adding another piece of hardware to his mantle.

The fourth “champion vs. champion” fight will have a bit of a twist to it since there is no current PFL champion at 185 pounds. Impa Kasanganay, who won this season’s Light Heavyweight belt, will drop down to the Middleweight division to challenge Bellator 185-pound champion, Johnny Eblen, who is undefeated at 14-0 and is coming off a dominant knockout win over Fabian Edwards at Bellator 299 (video here).

Aside from those four massive title fights, PFL is stacking the deck even further with several showcase fights, including Bellator Light Heavyweight champion, Vadim Nemkov, moving up to Heavyweight to face off against former champion, Bruno Cappelozza. Also, longtime MMA veteran Yoel Romero returns to action to face off against ex-UFC stablemate, Thiago Santos, in a 205-pound bout.

Rounding out the main card will be former Bellator Featherweight champion, A.J. McKee, taking on former title challenger, Clay Collard, at 155 pounds. McKee moved up to the Lightweight division shortly after losing his 145-pound strap to Patricio Pitbull, and has gone on to win three straight fights. As for Collard, he came up short in his bid to win the 2023 season, losing to Olivier Aubin-Mercier at PFL 10.

But wait, there’s more...

The undercard will feature Aaron Pico making his return to face off against Gabriel Braga, who lost to Jesus Pinedo at PFL 10 in the season-ending championship fight. Pico, on the other hand, is currently on a two-fight win streak and has won seven of his last eight fights.

Also, Claressa Shields will make her long-awaited return to the cage to face off against Kelsey DeSantis, who is 1-2 as a professional. As for Shields, she is 1-1 in her young MMA career and was last seen losing to Abigail Montes inside the SmartCage in Oct. 2021. Since then, the professional boxing champion returned to her roots and defended her WBA, WBC, IBF, WBF, and The Ring female Middleweight titles three times, while adding the WBO strap to her collection with an impressive win over Savannah Marshall.

Check out the entire card below:

PPV Card - ESPN+ PPV and DAZN - 3 pm ET

265 lbs.: Renan Ferreira (PFL champ) vs. Ryan Bader (Bellator champ)
185 lbs.: Impa Kasanganay (PFL Light Heavyweight Champ) vs. Johnny Eblen (Bellator Middleweight Champ)
170 lbs.: Magomed Magomedkerimov (PFL champ) vs. Jason Jackson (Bellator champ)
145 lbs.: Jesus Pinedo (PFL champ) vs. Patricio Pitbull (Bellator champ)
265 lbs.: Bruno Cappelozza vs. Vadim Nemkov
205 lbs.: Thiago Santos vs. Yoel Romero
155 lbs.: Clay Collard vs. AJ McKee

Early Card - ESPNEWS and ESPN+ (US) - 12 pm ET

145 lbs.: Gabriel Braga vs. Aaron Pico
155 lbs.: Biaggio Ali Walsh (debut) vs. Chris Morris (debut)
155 lbs.: Claressa Shields vs. Kelsey DeSantis
145 lbs.: Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs. Edukondal Rao
125 lbs.: Malik Basahel vs. Vinicius Pereira

For all the latest PFL and Bellator MMA news and notes click here and here.