Bracketology: 2025 PFL Africa Tournaments

The Professional Fighters League launched its third International League with the debut of PFL Africa on Saturday, as they broke ground in Cape Town, South Africa, featuring men’s heavyweight and bantamweight tournament brackets.

Here’s a look at the updated men’s heavyweight and bantamweight brackets following PFL Champions Series 2: 2025 Africa First Round:

Here's a look at the updated #PFLAfrica bantamweight tournament bracket pic.twitter.com/OBdt20Z7s8

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) July 19, 2025

PFL Africa Bantamweight Semifinal: Simbarashe Hokonya vs. Nkosi Ndebele

In what was one of the more entertaining fights on the card, Hokonya kept his undefeated record intact by defeating Frans Mlambo. Hokonya would have plenty of time in ground control against Mlambo, who was also deducted a point after an illegal blow to the back of Hokonya’s head. Hokonya would overcome the illegal blow and keep the fight mostly where he wanted to pick up a unanimous decision.

Headlining the PFL Africa prelim card, Ndebele wanted to make a statement and showcase himself, and his first-round finish said plenty. Facing Mahmoud Atef, Ndebele was getting the better of nearly all exchanges in the striking department and when he was able to get Atef to the ground, he worked to his back and started landing vicious ground-and-pound. After multiple warnings from the referee, Atef was unable to continue to defend himself and Ndebele set the South Africa crowd into an uproar with the win.

PFL Africa Bantamweight Semifinal: Karim Henniene vs. Boule Godogo

Henniene was not short on confidence coming into his fight against Asiashu Tshitamba and had to be very strategic in his approach. Tshitamba was the more aggressive striker, particularly on the feet but in each of the three rounds, Henniene would leave a lasting impression by getting takedowns and controlling the match for the final seconds in each round. Henniene would use that tactic to propel him to victory by split decision.

Godogo showed plenty of aggression in his striking and intelligence in his submission defense as he faced Shannon Van Tonder. While van Tonder was incredibly active in chasing submissions, Godogo didn't take his foot off the gas and used plenty of high-level defense to nullify his opponent’s submission attempts to keep himself undefeated and advance to the semifinals.

PFL Africa Heavyweight Semifinal: Abraham Bably vs. Joffie Houlton

Bably came into the PFL Africa heavyweight tournament on a two-fight skid, and made sure to make the first five minutes of his fight worth it. Taking on Paul-Emmanuel Gnaze, Bably would come out strong, landing big shots in the clinch and seemed to be in control of the action from the very beginning. As the round was coming to an end, Bably hurt Gnaze, who appeared to be doing enough to survive and then a right hook from Bably would close the show with just one second remaining in the opening frame.

While Bably went through all of the first stanza, Houlton was on the winning end of his fight very early on in an unfortunate way. Facing off against Abdoulaye Kane, Houlton was eye poked and while he was grounded on one knee against the fence, Kane threw an illegal knee that would end the fight just 40 seconds in. Due to Kane’s disqualification, Houlton was not only awarded the victory but will move on in the heavyweight tournament, assuming he recovers in time.

PFL Africa Heavyweight Semifinal: Justin Clarke vs. Maxwell Djantou Nana

Clarke had a tough battle in front of him in his opening-round fight against Jashell Ticha Awa, who appeared to do enough to be ahead in the first round. While Clarke may have been down on the cards, he was able to cause damage to Awa’s eye and nose that forced him to not answer the bell at the end of the first frame and Clarke was awarded the winner.

Nana was a name to watch coming into the PFL Africa heavyweight tournament but had a tough challenge in front of him as he went up against Mickael Groguhe. Groguhe would withstand the power of Nana, who fired off plenty of big and powerful combinations throughout the contest but could not get the finish. Nana would walk away with the unanimous decision victory.