The Professional Fighters League is set to begin their first season on June 7, which is just under two months away.
72 fighters in 6 different weight classes are set to compete for a $1 million prize and the following competitors are announced for the inaugural season:
Featherweight
Alexandre Almeida
Max Coga
Lee Coville
Marcos Galvao
Andre Harrison
Magomed Idrisov
Bekbulat Magomedov
Nazareno Malegarie
Lance Palmer
Steven Siler
Jumabieke Tuerxun
Timur Valiev
Lightweight
Will Brooks
Luiz Firmino
Brian Foster
Jason High
Yuki Kawana
Islam Mamedov
Rashid Magomedov
Ramsey Nijem
Natan Schulte
Thiago Tavares
Chris Wade
Robert Watley
Welterweight
Paul Bradley
Ray Cooper III
Pavel Kusch
Abubakar Nurmagomedov
Jake Shields
Rick Story
Herman Terrado
Bojan Velickovic
Yuri Villefort
Jonatan Westin
David Zawada
Joao Zeferino
Middleweight
Shamil Gamzatov
Anderson Goncalves
Eddie Gordon
Rex Harris
John Howard
Andre Lobato
Abus Magomedov
Bruno Santos
Sadibou Sy
Louis Taylor
Gasan Umalatov
Danillo Villefort
Light Heavyweight
Jamie Abdallah
Bazigit Ataev
Jason Butcher
Rakim Cleveland
Maxim Grishin
Brandon Halsey
Vinny Magalhaes
Ronny Markes
Sean O’Connell
Smealinho Rama
Dan Spohn
Rashid Yusupov
Heavyweight
Caio Alencar
Francimar Barroso
Josh Copeland
Daniel Gallemore
Denis Goltsov
Jake Heun
Valdrin Istrefi
Shawn Jordan
Mike Kyle
Jack May
Jared Rosholt
Nick Rossborough
Season one of the PFL will consist of eleven events, which have also been announced:
June 7: New York, New York - The Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden
June 21: Chicago, Ill. - Chicago Theater
July 5: Washington, DC. - GWU Smith Center
July 19: Long Island, N.Y. - Nassau Coliseum
August 2: Long Island, N.Y. - Nassau Coliseum
August 16: Atlantic City, N.J. - Ocean Resort Casino
August 30: Atlantic City, N.J. - Ocean Resort Casino
October 5: Playoff Event - Venue and city to be determined
October 13: Playoff Event - Venue and city to be determined
October 20: Playoff Event - Venue and city to be determined
December 31: Championship Event - Venue and city to be determined
MMA Fighting has also reported the following fight card for the first event of season one for the PFL:
Featherweights
Andre Harrison vs. Jumabieke Tuerxun
Lance Palmer vs. Bekbulat Magomedov
Alexandre Almeida vs. Lee Coville
Magomed Idrisov vs. Steven Siler
Marcos Galvao vs. Nazareno Malegarie
Timur Valiev vs. Max Coga
Heavyweights
Mike Kyle vs. Shawn Jordan
Denis Goltsov vs. Nick Rossborough
Jared Rosholt vs. Valdrin Istrefi
Caio Alencar vs. Jake Heun
Josh Copeland vs. Jack May
Francimar Barroso vs. Daniel Gallemore
A points system is going to used to determine who from each division makes the playoffs, with 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss. Bonus points will also get rewarded for a first round finish (3 points), second round finish (2 points) and a third round finish (1 points).
MMA Junkie is also reporting that the top eight fighters from each division will compete in a single elimination tournament. The winner of the tournament gets $1,000,000, while the runner up gets $200,000, with the semi-finalists getting $100,000 each and the quarter-finalists getting $50,000 each.
Once the season begins on June 7, a portion of the fights will air on NBC Sports Network and the other fights will air live on Facebook. There will also be a post-fight show airing live after each event on Facebook.
