On Thursday, May 1, the Professional Fighters League hosted PFL 2025 World Tournament: First Round 4, live from Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. The event featured the first round of the light heavyweight and heavyweight tournaments.
In the main event Phil Davis stunned former PFL champion Rob Wilkinson with a second round stoppage. The 40 year-old looked pretty spry in this match, surviving a knockdown in the first but doing lots of damage in the second. The end came when Davis landed a one-two by the cage to drop Wilkinson. He then swarmed him and put him away with ground strikes. Impressive stuff from Mr. Wonderful in his PFL debut. He moves on to the second round of the light heavyweight tournament.
In the semifinals he’ll fight Sullivan Cauley. Cauley won on the prelims, surprising Alex Polizzi with a first round TKO due to ‘Travis Browne’ elbows.
In the other light heavyweight semifinal we will have Antonio Carlos Jr. vs. Simeon Powell. Carlos Jr. booked his place in the next round by overcoming Kyle Moore in a close fight. Shoeface used his grappling to keep Moore at bay enough to earn the split decision. Powell advanced after stopping Karl Albrektsson in the second round, due to a barrage of elbows against the fence.
In tonight’s co-main event Valentin Moldavsky took a spit decision over fellow Russian Sergey Bilostenniy. This fight was about as high action as you can expect from heavyweight MMA (with two guys who look and more more like 205 lbers). Ultimately Moldavsky was able to get the win after relying on his wrestling in the third and final round.
Moldavsky will face Alexandr Romanov in the heavyweight semifinals. Romanov, who was recently cut from the UFC, advanced after a first round guillotine win over Tim Johnson (though the guillotine seemed to do more damage to Johnson’s ribs than his breathing).
The other heavyweight semi-final will be Oleg Popov vs. Rodrigo Nascimento. Those men came through close fights and earned split decisions over Karl Williams and Abraham Bably respectively.
The event aired live on ESPN+ starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. The main card also airs on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. ET. Check below for full results.
Valentin Moldavsky def. Sergey Bilostenniy by unanimous decision (29-28. 29-28, 29-28)- first round heavyweight bout
Antonio Carlos Jr. def. Karl Moore by split decision (29-28. 28-29, 29-28) – first round light heavyweight bout
Simeon Powell def. Karl Albrektsson by TKO (elbows). Round 2, 2:05 – first round light heavyweight bout
Alexandr Romanov def. Tim Johnson by submission (guillotine choke). Round 1, 1:53. – first round heavyweight bout
Oleg Popov def. Karl Williams by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) – first round heavyweight bout
Sullivan Cauley def. Alex Polizzi by TKO (elbows). Round 1, 1:36 – light heavyweight alternate bout
Rodrigo Nascimento def. Abraham Bably by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) – first round heavyweight bout