PFL World Tournament 10: 2025 Finals Preview and Predictions

The Professional Fighters League wraps up the 2025 season with the final three tournament championship bouts. This Thursday, Aug. 21, the promotion’s middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight finals are due to get settled at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.

The first of the three finals will take place in the light heavyweight division as Antonio Carlos Jr. squares off against Sullivan Cauley. The co-main event will see the heavyweight finalists lock horns as Oleg Popov takes on Alexandr Romanov. Lastly, in the main event, middleweights Fabian Edwards and Dalton Rosta will face off.

The event airs live in its entirety on ESPN+ starting at 6 p.m. ET. The main card also airs on ESPN starting at 9 p.m. ET. Let’s take a look at the preview and predictions.

Both Fabian Edwards and Dalton Rosta cut their teeth under the Bellator banner; which man gets the win and earns PFL gold?

Fabian Edwards has been impressive during this PFL season, stopping Impa Kasanganay and then resisting the wrestling of Josh Silveira. Dalton Rosa has been more under-the-radar, after coming through, in a very close fight with Aaron Jeffrey, in the last round. He was awarded a split decision there. Before that he finished Sadibou Sy with a D’Arce choke.

Edwards has been able to land hard shots in both of his fights this season, and he’s done well to avoid being bogged down with wrestling exchanges. Rosta is very athletic, and he’s relied on his striking to get his wins, too. His striking isn’t as clean or dynamic as Edwards’, though.

I think this is a close fight that will go to a decision, and I like the range and experience of Edwards here. I think he will find ways to hurt Rosta, especially with shots to the body, and end up getting the nod from the judges.

Antonio Carlos Jr. has won his last three fights by decision; can he get a finish en route to recapturing a world championship?

Antonio Carlos Jr. has had a tough go in this PFL season. He took some shots from Simeon Powell, but was able to get enough control to earn a decision. And in the first round, he needed a split decision to get past Karl Moore. Sullivan Cauley has been one of the breakout stars of this season. He finished Alex Polizzi in the first round. He, then, beat Phil Davis, one of the pre-tournament favorites, in pretty convincing fashion en route to the unanimous decision.

I think this is a case of “Shoeface” trending down, while Cauley is trending up. Carlos Jr. has had to gut out some close fights this year and, had the fight with Powell gone one more round, he would have probably been finished. Cauley has fought above expectations in this tournament and we’ve seen that guys can go all the way doing that – see Thad Jean and Alfie Davis.

Carlos Jr. has been getting away with being hit so far, but I think that luck is about to run out. I think Cauley will get to Carlos Jr. early and do enough on the feet to cancel out what Carlos Jr. does on the ground for a decision win.

Former UFC fighter Alexandr Romanov has a chance to win the title in his first year with the PFL; will the Moldovan fighter get the job done?

If Alexandr Romanov wins the PFL title, he would have taken one of the most unusual routes ever to winning a title. He’s in this spot after his fight with Valentin Moldavsky was ruled a no-contest. That fight was a no-contest because Moldavsky hit Romanov with a sickening groin shot that prevented Romanov from being able to continue. Prior to that debacle, Romanov got a quick submission win over Tim Johnson. Oleg Popov’s route to the final was more routine, with decisions over Rodrigo Nascimento and Karl Williams.

This is probably not going to be a very exciting fight. Neither of these guys are very athletic or intense. There’s going to be a lot of wall-and-stall. If Romanov can get the fight to the ground, I fancy his chances. But I think a takedown might even be too much to ask for with this fight. I think we’re going to see very low-volume kickboxing, and Popov holding Romanov on the fence landing knees to the thigh. Hopefully, he doesn’t miss.

I see Popov getting the decision here, and us, in the audience, being desperate to move on to something more exciting.

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

Impa Kasanganay vs. Andrew Sanchez is an intriguing match-up, which is currently on the early card.

Kasanganay had early success in PFL, winning the 2023 light heavyweight tournament, and a million-dollar check. Since then, he was beaten by Johnny Eblen on the PFL vs. Bellator card and then knocked out quickly in the 2024 championship bout. He’s lost two fights by TKO in a row and will be desperate to get back into the win column.

There was a lot of hype around Andrew Sanchez when he came off The Ultimate Fighter all the way back in 2017. It just hasn’t happened for him in his career, though. He was barely able to get himself into fights during his UFC tenure and was chased from the promotion by a Bruno Silva TKO. He’s 1-1 in PFL and was finished by Sabidou Sy in last year’s competition. He needs a win to just show he’s still got a career doing this kind of work.

This is a striker vs. wrestler match-up, with both men really needing a win. I think those stakes are going to make it a very watchable fight, and I think Kasanganay is going to be the one walking away with his hand raised, maybe from a knockout.