The
Professional Fighters League held its first show of the year in
the United States on Saturday night, touching down in Pennsylvania
for
PFL Pittsburgh with lots at stake in the middleweight
division.
Here are the matches to make following PFL Pittsburgh:
After defending his title against Fabian
Edwards in Madrid last week, the middleweight champion said
he’d be open to rematching Eblen, or whoever was the most
impressive in Pittsburgh. The answer to that was Eblen. A quick and
decisive dismantling of Bryan
Battle in the main event showed that Eblen is ready for a
rematch for all the marbles.
After making her successful SmartCage debut against former title
challenger Sumiko
Inaba, Lipski da Silva should get another high-ranked flyweight
opponent who is also a former
Ultimate Fighting Championship contender in Santos.
The next PFL global show will take place on April 11 in Chicago,
with undefeated middleweight Newman taking on Josh Silveira in the
co-main event. Kasanganay and Silveira have faced each other twice,
with Kasanganay coming out victorious in both matchups. If Newman
is able to get a win over Silveira, he could put himself in line
for a high-stakes opportunity against Kasanganay or another
high-ranked middleweight. On the other side, if the PFL is going to
run with Eblen vs. van Steenis 2, then Kasanganay should face off
against the most recent title challenger in Edwards. The two fought
in 2025 during the tournament and would offer up a great
opportunity at revenge for Kasanganay as he looks to cement himself
at the top of a loaded middleweight division.
In a pre-fight conversation with Sherdog, Pergande mentioned
Adjoudj as a guy he’d be willing to take on if he came out
victorious against Julio Arce,
which he did. Arce survived a bloody war against Pergande, even
coming back and winning the third round, showing that the young and
undefeated Pergande needs more seasoning as he works his way up the
featherweight division. At just 24-years old, there’s no reason for
the PFL or Pergande to be rushed, and he’ll learn valuable lessons
along the way. He’s shown patience while coming up through the PFL
early in his career and should continue to do so following his win
over Arce.