2025 PFL World Tournament: First Round 1 Preview and Predictions

On Thursday, Apr. 3, the Professional Fighters League will kickstart its 2025 season and host the 2025 PFL World Tournament: First Round 1, featuring welterweights and featherweights, live from Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Fla. The event features the opening round fights for PFL’s welterweight and featherweight tournament brackets. The winners that night will progress in the tournament and remain in contention for a $500,000 grand prize.

The event airs live on ESPN+ starting at 7 p.m. ET, with the the main card also airing on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. ET. Let’s take a look at the preview and predictions.

Two former Bellator welterweight champions square off in the main event; which veteran fighter advances in this year’s PFL World Tournament?

Thanks to the PFL’s acquisition of Bellator MMA last year, this year’s PFL tournament is slated to feature a host of fighters best known for their exploits in the Bellator cage. That’s certainly the case for this main event.

Jason Jackson vs. Andrey Koreshkov is a match-up of two former Bellator welterweight champions. Jackson was Bellator’s penultimate 170-pound champ. He took the belt from Yaroslav Amosov at Bellator 250, but dropped it in his first title defense to Ramazan Kuramagomedov.

Koreshkov held the belt for a little longer than that. He beat Douglas Lima for the title back at Bellator 140 in 2015 and defended it against Benson Henderson. He then lost the title in a rematch with Lima, by third-round knockout.

Both Jackson and Koreshkov are recent winners in PFL. Jackson finished Ray Cooper III by TKO on last year’s PFL vs. Bellator card. And, Koreshkov took a unanimous decision over Goiti Yamauachi on a 2024 PFL regular season card in June.

Jackson enters the fight as the slight favorite over Koreshkov. Despite being the same age as Koreshkov, Kill Cliff’s Jackson is far less shop-worn. The heavy hitting Jackson will likely cause Koreshkov, who has six knockout losses, some problems on the feet due to his power and reach advantage.

Jesus Pinedo has won three consecutive fights via knockout; does he extend that streak by stopping Adam Borics?

Jesus Pinedo was a surprise winner of the 2023 PFL featherweight bracket. To earn that $1 million prize, Pinedo upset both Brendan Loughnane and Bubba Jenkins – both by TKO – and, then, he finished Gabriel Braga, also by TKO, in the final.

He’s the favorite against Adam Borics, who beat Enrique Barzola by unanimous decision last time out. That Barzola fight, in Apr. 2024, was Borics’ first bout since he unsuccessfully challenged Patricio “Pitbull” Freire for the Bellator featherweight belt in 2022.

Barzola is Pinedo’s training partner at Ivan Iberico’s Pitbull Gym in Lima, Peru, so Pinedo probably has a great scouting report to work off of. Without that, though, he’s still the favorite to win this one. His activity and familiarity within PFL is a plus for him. That, in addition to his punching power and reach, should be enough to get past “The Kid,” who is now well into his 30’s.

Magomed Umalatov enters his quarterfinal fight with Logan Storley after suffering his first career loss; does the Russian fighter get a rebound victory?

Magomed Umalatov was stopped in his last fight, suffering his first loss in 18 pro fights. That was against Shamil Musaev in the 2024 PFL welterweight championship fight. He punched his ticket to that finale after beating Neiman Gracie, Brennan Ward and the aforementioned Koreshkov.

Longtime Bellator fighter Logan Storely is 1-1 in PFL. He lost to Musuaev by a brutal ground-and-pound TKO in 2024, but rebounded with a decision win over Luca Poclit.

Umalatov is a big welterweight. He should be able to put that size to good use against Storley and control much of this fight due to his Sambo and wrestling background.

Which fight is the sleeper match-up on this card?

The undefeated Thad Jean will get the toughest test of his young career on Thursday when he takes on Mukhamed Berkhamov in the welterweight bracket. Jean is an exciting, albeit raw, prospect with fast and powerful hands – two of his four PFL wins have come by knockout. And, he showed a lot of character in gutting out a decision win over a very tough Chris Brown in his last fight.

Berkhamov was face-planted by Lorenz Larkin in 2023. Since then, he’s beaten Herman Terrado and Ray Cooper III. Berkhamov’s wrestling will be a new look for Jean, and it will be interesting to see if Jean can stay on his feet and repeat what Larkin was able to do.

Joseph Luciano is another name to watch on the undercard. He’s only ever lost to Jonathan Micallef, who looked great in his UFC debut in Sydney recently, as well as top UFC welterweight Carlos Prates. In 2019, Luciano managed to last three rounds against Prates. No one else has done that since. Luciano will be taking on Sarek Shields.