{"id":2846,"date":"2025-07-18T10:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T10:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/2846\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T10:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T10:17:08","slug":"pfl-africa-nigerian-police-officer-juliet-ukah-eyes-mma-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/2846\/","title":{"rendered":"PFL Africa: Nigerian police officer Juliet Ukah eyes MMA history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Founded in the US in 2017, the PFL already has circuits in America and Europe alongside a combined Middle East and North Africa league.<\/p>\n

Cameroon-born MMA icon Francis Ngannou was made chairman of PFL Africa<\/a> when it was introduced last year, having joined the promotion after leaving the UFC, where he had been heavyweight champion.<\/p>\n

The PFL is known for its tournament format, giving fighters the chance to advance through regular season, play-offs and championship stages in pursuit of reaching a final for titles.<\/p>\n

“The opportunity for fighters is right here in Africa – to train, live and compete here on the biggest global scale that the continent has ever seen in terms of combat sports,” said Loren Mack, the promotion’s senior vice-president.<\/p>\n

“PFL Africa’s commitment to the continent of Africa is certainly the biggest commitment for combat sport that Africa has ever seen.”<\/p>\n

Speaking to BBC Sport Africa when the plans were first announced,<\/a> PFL chief executive Peter Murray said the promotion would invest in athlete development, coaching and training spaces under Ngannou’s leadership.<\/p>\n

South Africa-born Frans Mlambo – who is on the card in Cape Town and is a long-time sparring partner of two-time UFC champion Conor McGregor – added that the talent waiting to be discovered in the country is “unbelievable”.<\/p>\n

The inaugural PFL Africa tournament will feature 24 fighters from 14 African countries, with their second event taking place in Johannesburg on 9 August.<\/p>\n

“The biggest challenges MMA fighters face in Africa are facilities, equipment and sponsors,” Ukah explained.<\/p>\n

“PFL has come into the picture. It means a lot to me because now is when I start my career.<\/p>\n

“It’s a good platform for me to showcase my talent.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Founded in the US in 2017, the PFL already has circuits in America and Europe alongside a combined…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-2846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}