The PFL’s sophomore season comes to a close in just 30 days’ time, as New York’s Madison Square Garden plays host to the 2019 season finale, with six end-of-season titles up for grabs.
The main event will see two-time Olympic judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison (6-0 MMA, 6-0 PFL) look to secure the first major title of her MMA career when she takes on Brazil’s Larissa Pacheco (13-3 MMA, 2-1 PFL) in the women’s lightweight final.
While Harrison is looking to claim her maiden MMA title, reigning PFL champions Lance Palmer (21-3 MMA, 9-0 PFL) and Natan Schulte (19-3-1 MMA, 7-0-1 PFL) return to finals day looking to successfully repeat their season one finishes.
Featherweight Palmer takes on replacement finalist Alex Gilpin (14-3 MMA, 2-2 PFL) after his original opponent, Daniel Pineda, was pulled from the card following notice of a potential anti-doping violation.
And Brazilian lightweight Schulte will bid to successfully repeat his season one victory when he takes on Tajikistan’s Loik Radzhabov (13-1-1 MMA, 2-1-1 PFL).
Also familiar with competing in the season finale is welterweight Ray Cooper III (19-7-1 MMA, 6-2-1 PFL), who lost out to Magomed Magomedkerimov in last year’s welterweight final. This time he’ll look go one step further and capture the 170-pound title against David Michaud (18-5 MMA, 3-1 PFL).
Also set for finals action are Emiliano Sordi 21-8 MMA, 5-1 PFL) and Jordan Johnson (12-1-1 MMA, 2-1-1 PFL), who face off for the light heavyweight title, while undefeated Ali Isayev (8-0 MMA, 4-0 PFL) and Jared Rosholt (20-7 MMA, 6-3 PFL) will battle for the 2019 heavyweight championship.
Each finalist had to book their place in the Madison Square Garden finale by progressing through back-to-back bouts at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas back in October and, as the video above shows, the playoffs produced a feast of finishes in Sin City as the PFL’s best did battle in a bid to punch their ticket to New York.
Now they each stand just one victory away from a PFL title, and a cool $1 million prize.
PFL 2019 Finale championship bouts include:
- Kayla Harrison vs. Larissa Pacheco – women’s lightweight final
- Ray Cooper III vs. David Michaud – welterweight final
- Lance Palmer vs. Alex Gilpin – featherweight final
- Natan Schulte vs. Loik Radzhabov – lightweight final
- Emiliano Sordi vs. Jordan Johnson – light heavyweight final
- Ali Isayev vs Jared Rosholt – heavyweight final