Matches to Make After 2023 PFL Championships

The Professional Fighters League held their biggest event of 2023 a day after Thanksgiving, with six $1 million championship bouts at featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight and women's featherweight. Adding further intrigue, many Bellator MMA champs were sitting cageside, a promotion that the PFL recently acquired.

Keeping in mind that this is what the league is looking to do following the 2023 PFL Championships, I find the following showdowns especially tantalizing for 2024:

Cristiane Justino vs. Larissa Pacheco

Kayla Harrison called out “Cyborg” after her victory, but the better, more logical match-up is against Pacheco. Not only did PFL's 2022 women's lightweight champion and now 2023 women's featherweight champion Pacheco defeat Harrison at the end of 2022, but Cyborg and Pacheco are both featherweights, whereas Harrison is a lightweight, only able to go down as low as 150 pounds for her catchweight win against Aspen Ladd on Friday. Making the decision even clearer, Cyborg-Pacheco would be a far more exciting showdown. They're two of the best strikers in women’s mixed martial arts, often throwing caution to the wind in going for the knockout. Their clash could well be an all-time barnburner, whereas Cyborg against Harrison will likely look a lot like Pacheco-Harrison 3. Namely, the grappler Harrison would get takedowns but be unable to finish, while the striker would have success in the striking, but be clinched or grabbed too often to finish, leading to a grinding fight and a close decision either way. The battle between Brazilians could well be a passing of the torch too, with Pacheco 29 and Cyborg 38.

Patricio Freire vs. Jesus Pinedo

As I've mentioned many times, I consider Freire one of the 20 greatest mixed martial artists ever. However, at 36 and having been fighting professionally since he was 16, at a weight class predicated on speed and reaction time, he has finally felt his age, losing two straight and taking time off for a major back surgery. How will he do against the streaking young champion Pinedo, with the 27 year-old looking like one of the very best featherweights in the world after a shocking 94-second demolition of 2022 PFL champion Brendan Loughnane followed by brutal knockouts of Bubba Jenkins and previously undefeated Gabriel Braga in the finals. Will Pinedo's fearsome striking be too much for Freire? Or will the Brazilian legend surprise everyone yet again? And if so, will he do it with striking or grappling? All I know is that this will be a fantastic contest, one I'm heavily looking forward to.

A.J. McKee vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier

OAM is the PFL lightweight champion for a second year in a row, but a showdown with Bellator's undefeated lightweight kingpin Usman Nurmagomedov is murky given that the sensation tested positive for PEDs, and is apparently scheduled to rematch Brent Primus before the winner faces Alexandr Shabliy in the finals of Bellator's lightweight grand prix. Thus, I would love to see Aubin-Mercier face the superlatively talented former Bellator featherweight champion in McKee. This would be a battle of one of Bellator's biggest stars against one of PFL's brightest talents. Aubin-Mercier, like all of McKee's recent opponents, would be looking to grapple early and often. However, as we've seen McKee is a skilled grappler himself, able to secure submissions (including Sherdog's 2020 Submission of the Year), hit sweeps and inflict heavy elbows from the bottom while neutralizing opponents on top. It's a marquee matchup that could headline any PFL card and fans would love to see it.

Renan Ferreira vs. Ryan Bader

PFL's new heavyweight champion called out Francis Ngannou, certainly the biggest fight available, but in the wake of Ngannou's amazing performance against undefeated heavyweight boxing world champion Tyson Fury, it's unclear when the next time he will compete in MMA is, or against whom. The more immediate fight to make is with the Bellator heavyweight champion. This will be an old-school striker vs. grappler match. The 6' 8”, 260+ pound Ferreira will look to keep it standing and deliver a big knockout with his titanic fists. Bader, a 6' 2” former light heavyweight who weighed 234 pounds for his last defense, will look to get takedowns and deliver heavy ground-and-pound. Either way, there is a good chance of a spectacular finish and an impressive new unified heavyweight world champion.

Johnny Eblen vs. Derek Brunson

PFL doesn't have a middleweight division, but one of their biggest signings, Brunson, had a successful debut in the promotion against former PFL welterweight champion Cooper III, recovering from being nearly knocked out in Round 1 to repeatedly take down and maul the Hawaiian from the top. Having the undefeated Bellator champion Eblen, who I consider the best middleweight in the world in any promotion, defend against the long-time UFC contender is easily the biggest match PFL can make in the weight class. It will also likely be an exciting one, as Brunson won't be able to rely on his wrestling against Eblen, who is an equally decorated and arguably even better grappler. Instead, I expect this fight to be contested mostly on the feet. Eblen is a good striker and will likely have the advantage, but one can't completely discount Brunson, a southpaw whose left hand has legitimate one punch knockout power, as former UFC light heavyweight champion and legend Lyoto Machida once learned the hard way. This will be a very entertaining fight, regardless of whether Eblen adds to his highlight reel and ledger or Brunson scores an enormous upset.