PFL World Tournament 6: 2025 Semifinals Preview and Predictions

On Friday, Jun. 20, the Professional Fighters League takes over INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan. That night, the promotion will host its semifinals in the lightweight, bantamweight and women’s flyweight tournaments.

The main event will be a lightweight semifinal between Gadzhi Rabadanov and recent PFL signee Kevin Lee. The co-main event features former Bellator champ Liz Carmouche against the undefeated Elora Dana.

The PFL World Tournament 6: 2025 Semifinals airs live in its entirety on ESPN+ starting at 5 p.m. ET, with the main card also airing on ESPN starting at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Kevin Lee makes his PFL debut in the main event; can the former UFC title challenger get off to a good start in a new promotion?

Kevin Lee signed with PFL a few weeks ago and skipped the line in the lightweight tournament, taking the place of Jay Jay Wilson in the semifinals. Wilson beat Mads Burnell by TKO in the first round back in April, but is now out with a broken jaw. Lee’s last fight was a quick submission over journeyman Thiago Oliveira in the Lights Out Championship promotion last September. That was his first action since 2023, when he re-appeared in UFC and was submitted by Rinat Fakretdinov.

The formerly ranked UFC fighter is going to have his hands full on Friday night, though. Gadzhi Rabadanov booked his semifinal berth with a 30-second beatdown of Marc Diakiese, a former UFC name who also made his PFL debut in the first round. That win extended his winning streak to 11. Among those wins are his PFL 2024 championship win with a TKO of former Bellator champ Brent Primus.

UFC watchers might be left with a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to Lee’s career. He petered out at the highest level, but only after losses to elite fighters in their primes – Tony Ferguson, Rafael dos Anjos and Charles Oliveira.

I think Rabadanov is a tough fight for Lee, especially due to the ferocity of Rabadanov’s striking. And the bookies agree, listing Rabadanov as a massive favorite.

However, I think Lee is a live dog here, and that his experience against much tougher opposition could help him out. He’s also much longer than Rabadanov, with a six-inch reach advantage. I think that could keep Lee out of trouble on the feet. If Lee isn’t getting touched up by Rabadanov, I think we’re going to see this fight decided by wrestling.

Rabadanov’s Dagestani-style wrestling has looked great so far. However, we’ve only seen it deployed against Bellator/PFL talent. I think Lee, at still just 32 years old, is a cut above that – although, not by much). Lee has good wrestling, too, though it was often bypassed by the best fighters he faced. It’s hard to forecast how their wrestling will look against each other, but I won’t be shocked if Lee turns out to be the man on top in many of these exchanges. I can also see Rabadanov crashing forwards to land combos to try and make up for the reach disadvantage, leaving himself open for reactive takedowns.

Lee’s subpar submission defense is a cause for concern. If the wrestling game turns out to be even, or slightly in favor of Rabadanov, then Rabadanov will have a good chance of submitting Lee from the top position, maybe by arm-triangle choke or Kimura.

Ultimately, I’m picking Rabadanov by decision. I don’t think he blows away Lee with a first-round knockout like some are predicting. I think this is a close fight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Lee takes it on the scorecards either.

Elora Dana is an undefeated professional fighter; how does she fare against the battle tested Liz Carmouche?

Elora Dana reached the semifinals with a neck-crank win over Diana Avsaragova in April. She’s a former Jungle Fights champ who is now 8-0 as a pro.

Liz Carmouche doesn’t need much of an introduction. She was a longtime UFC contender, who unsuccessfully challenged both Ronda Rousey and Valentina Shevchenko for gold. When she moved to Bellator, she took the title and held it until the company crumbled around her. In Bellator, Carmouche shed a bit of her boring reputation, securing finishes on the regular. And, she’s done that in PFL, beating Kana Watanabe with an armbar and finishing Ilara Joanne with liver shots.

Carmouche is 41 years old, but she looked as good as ever in dismantling Joanne. That likely says a lot about the level of competition in this PFL tournament.

Dana is no spring chicken, at 31, but she’s young in fight years. Her striking is very raw, but she has a legitimate BJJ black belt through the Carlos Rosado Academy. I don’t think her BJJ is special enough to beat Carmouche on its own, though. And, I don’t think she’s got enough striking or wrestling to prevent Carmouche from controlling the fight. Carmouche should be able to bully her against the cage, get top position, and stay there for the duration of this fight and earn a decision.

Archie Colgan is a former Bellator standout; can the lightweight phenom continue his success in the PFL?

Archie Colgan got to 11-0 with a win over Manoel Sousa in the Bellator Champions Series last year. His fight with Mansour Barnaoui is a title eliminator with the winner set to face Usman Nurmagomedov for the PFL lightweight championship.

Barnaoui is 22-6 and has won back-to-back fights over Alfie Davis and Yusuke Yachi, both by submission. Before that, he dropped decisions to Jay Jay Wilson and Brent Primus.
Colgan has explosive wrestling and a developing striking game.

Barnaoui is a massive lightweight. He’ll be three inches taller than Colgan and have a seven-inch reach advantage. He doesn’t have great striking, but grappling is where he shines.

Barnaoui fights very upright, so Colgan can probably find success with his takedowns. Barnaoui also leaves his chin out there, so Colgan might be able to reach out and touch that on occasion. Either way, I think Colgan will probably be able to control a lot of this fight from top position and earn a decision win, as well as a lightweight title shot.

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

Magomed Magomedov vs. Savarjon Khamidov is the sleeper match on this card. The 33-year-old Magomedov is coming off a split decision loss to Patchy Mix for the Bellator bantamweight title in 2024. That dropped him to 20-4 as a pro. His only losses are two to Mix – one of which by submission – and decisions to Raufeon Stots and Petr Yan, when he lost his ACB title.

Magomedov was supposed to fight Leandro Higo in the first round of the bantamweight tournament, but pulled out and lost his place in the bracket.

Khamidov is 28 years old and 16-0, fighting out of Tajikistan. He’s a veteran of UAE Warriors and Bellator. Most recently he took a unanimous decision win over Marcirley Alves.

Khamidov is a very good undefeated prospect with a pressure-heavy wrestling game and decent striking. Magomedov remains one of the best bantamweights in the world, certainly outside of the UFC. It will be interesting to see whose submission wrestling is the best in this match-up, and whether Khamidov will be able to hang with Magomedov’s creative striking.

I personally think Magomedov might be a little too much too soon for Khamidov, but I’m anticipating a close and entertaining fight between the two.