PFL 2025 World Tournament: First Round 2 Preview and Predictions

This Friday, Apr. 11, the Professional Fighters League will roll on with their 2025 PFL World Tournament. The league format is gone this year in favor of a knockout tournament. The prize is also different. Gone are the million-dollar checks. Instead we’ve got a $500,000 prize to the winners of each individual bracket.

Last week, things got underway with the featherweight and welterweight divisions. Jason Jackson scooped the headlines there, submitting fellow former Bellator champ Andrey Koreshkov in the second round. Past PFL winner Jesus Pinedo also earned a huge TKO win over Adam Borics. This week, we’ve got the opening matches for the men’s bantamweight and women’s flyweight brackets. And there’s a couple of recognizable faces in those line-ups.

The event airs live on ESPN+ starting at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Leandro Higo has not lost since his last appearance in a tournament environment; can he extend his winning streak to three and defeat Josh Rettinghouse?

Longtime Bellator fighter, and the lesser famous “Pitbull” fighting this weekend, Leandro Higo is coming off wins over James Gallagher and Nikita Mikhailov. His last loss was in the Bellator bantamweight grand prix finale in 2022. That’s when he dropped a unanimous decision to Danny Sabetello. At his best, Higo is a fast and athletic fighter with a dangerous submission game. However, Higo is now 36 years old.

Higo was supposed to fight former World Series of Fighting and M-1 title challenger Josh Rittenghouse, but Rittenghouse was not medically cleared to fight. Marcirley Alves has been pulled off his undercard fight with Vilson Ndregjoni to fill in.

Alves has struggled to book fights over the last few years, having fights in both Bellator and PFL fall through. The 25-year-old has a 12-4 record, with most fights happening on the Brazilian regional circuit.

Higo is a far superior fighter, despite his advanced age. He’s also much bigger and longer than Alves. This is an easier fight than the one Higo was preparing for. He’ll likely run through Alves with a first-round stoppage.

Liz Carmouche had a nine-fight winning streak snapped in her last outing; can she rebound and move on in the tournament by beating Ilara Joanne?

Liz Carmouche’s physical, albeit low-output, style has served her well since she exited the UFC off the back of a terrible fight with UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. After that, Carmouche won all seven of her bouts in Bellator, claiming the flyweight title and defending it against Juliana Velasquez, DeAnna Bennett and her good friend Ilima-Lei Macfarlane. She beat Velasquez for a third time in her 2024 PFL debut. She then submitted Kana Watanabe. In her last fight, she was defeated by Taila Santos, a fellow former UFC title challenger, by unanimous decision. Carmouche came in heavy for that fight, too.

Ilara Joanne is 12-9 as a pro. She’s coming off a decision win over Shana Young. Joanne also has a loss to Taila Santos. She was submitted by her fellow Brazilian in the first round a year ago.

Carmouche is the favorite to win this bracket, now that Taila Santos withdrew from this event, as she was supposed to fight Juliana Velasquez. Carmouche should be able to smother Joanne en route to another trademark “Girl-Rilla” victory.

Francesco Nuzzi last fought in 2023; will ring rust get the better of him in his return to action?

The 10-1 Francesco Nuzzi is always a fun watch, as he switches between MMA and professional grappling. He won his last MMA fight back in 2023, finishing Farbod Iran Nezhad with a first-round head kick knockout at PFL Europe.

He draws “El Toro” Mando Gutierrez in the first round this weekend. Gutierrez is best known for being Raul Rosas Jr.’s Contender Series opponent back in 2022. Gutierrez’s other notable fights are a TKO loss to Cody Gibson, while attempting to get into the TUF house in 2023, and a jumping-knee-knockout loss to Cameron Smotherman.

Nuzzi should have too much stopping power on the feet, and submission skills on the ground, for Gutierrez to contend with.

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

Jake Hadley will make his PFL debut on Friday. The British fighter was given his UFC walking papers after a unanimous decision loss to Cameron Smotherman in Oct. 2024. That loss dropped Hadley’s UFC record to 3-4. Despite his tenure in the Octagon ending poorly, there were some highlights in the promotion for “White Kong”. He won his Contender Series match-up with a submission over Mitch Raposo, who fights at UFC 314 this weekend. Hadley was signed to the UFC, despite Dana White telling the world how disliked Hadley was backstage. In UFC action, Hadley finished Malcolm Gordon with a TKO and upset Caolan Loughran.

After washing out of the UFC, the pressure is on the 28-year-old Hadley to find success in the PFL. His opponent, Mattheus Mattos, won’t make things easy for him, though. Mattos is a longtime Bellator vet who has had reps against names like Petr Yan and Magomed Magomedov.

This could be a pretty close, and fun, fight. Hadley’s wrestling likely gives him the edge in this match-up.