Matches to Make After PFL 8

The Professional Fighters League once again made my job easier, as the promotion’s tournament format determines which competitors will square off in the 2022 PFL welterweight and heavyweight championships on Nov. 25. In the aftermath of PFL 8 on Saturday in Cardiff, Wales, let us examine those matches in more detail than usual:

2022 PFL Welterweight Championship

#2 | Sadibou Sy (12-6-2, 6-4-2 PFL) vs. #7 | Dilano Taylor (10-2, 3-1 PFL)

Sy has been fighting in the PFL since 2018, and in 2022, at the age of 35, he finds himself in a final for the first time. He rode a trio of decision wins over Nikolay Aleksakhin, Rory MacDonald and now Carlos Leal Miranda there, finding himself at least a small underdog in all of them. Sy has a counterpunching style that is at times downright passive, explaining why he often finds himself going to close decisions. However, he is a technical, long striker with a good jab, and his takedown defense has been steadily improving over his years in the PFL—to the point where not even MacDonald could do much in that regard against him. Taylor has won nine of his last 10 fights, the lone blemish a knockout loss to Magomed Magomedkerimov only a little over a month ago, but none of his victories were bigger than a first-round knockout of MacDonald at PFL 8. Taylor is a decade younger than Sy at just 25 and clearly still improving. Moreover, he has the better, faster and far more powerful striking. Even his jab is superior to Sy’s, and that is the best strike “The Swedish Denzel Washington” has in his arsenal. I would favor Taylor to win the PFL welterweight championship by a considerable margin.

2022 PFL Heavyweight Championship

#2 | Ante Delija (22-5, 6-2 PFL) vs. #7 | Matheus Scheffel (17-8, 2-1 PFL)

Scheffel continues the proud tradition of dangerous Brazilian strikers coming out of nowhere to make a PFL heavyweight final. In fact, he even defeated 2021 champion Bruno Cappelozza by decision before stopping late replacement Juan Adams at PFL 8. Of course, he had started the season by being knocked out by Delija, who made the final in 2021 and has done so again in 2022. Scheffel is a short heavyweight, at 6-foot-2 and with only 75 inches of reach, but he is a skilled striker with competent defensive wrestling and fairly good cardio. Delija, meanwhile, has looked better than ever since losing in the 2021 PFL heavyweight final, knocking out Scheffel, outpointing Shelton Graves and finishing Renan Ferreira with ground-and-pound at the end of Round 1. There is no reason why Delija should not be a substantial favorite in the rematch. From the standpoint of technique and speed, Delija and Scheffel have comparable striking. However, Delija simply hits much harder and possesses a more durable chin. Moreover, Delija has a huge advantage in the clinch and with his wrestling. He can take Scheffel down and batter him with ground-and-pound. Given that Scheffel was taken down by Adams, Delija should have little trouble doing so, as well. Scheffel will need to fight at his best and avoid being on his back to have any chance. With that said, it seems more likely that Delija wins the PFL heavyweight championship on his second attempt.