Professional Fighters League will kick off its 2022 Regular Season with PFL 1 on April 20th and is to be headlined by 2021 PFL Lightweight Champion, Raush Manfio taking on Don Madge. The event will take place at Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas.
PFL Announces Fight Card for First 2022 Regular Season Event
Raush Manfio vs. Don Madge
Manfio will look to put the first step on his road to winning a second title as he is riding a four-fight winning streak, with all of those victories gathered during the previous season. Madge is also unbeaten inside the PFL SmartCage, as he submitted Nathan Williams with Rear-Naked choke at the tenth event of the 2021 Regular Season. He has stacked up to seven wins in a row including two victories inside the UFC Octagon.
Anthony Pettis vs. Myles Price
Anthony Pettis returns to action, searching for his first win in PFL, as he lost his two previous fights to Clay Collard and to the aforementioned Manfio. A former UFC and WEC Lightweight Champion will square off against Myles Price, who will make his promotional debut. A veteran of the British MMA scene, Price last fought in his home country of Ireland at Bellator 217, where he defeated Peter Queally by split decision.
Other Fights
In the Light Heavyweight division, fans will see a duel between two Brazilians, as 2021 PFL Champion Antonio Carlos Jr. takes on Delan Monte. Carlos Jr., who has an extensive grappling background, is unbeaten in PFL and hopes to repeat his achievement from the previous season. Monte has an 8 – 1 professional MMA record and has never fought outside his home country of Brazil.
A two sports athlete, ‘Cassius’ Clay Collard will take on MMA veteran, Jeremy Stephens. Taking Collard’s boxing background and Stephen’s willingness to trade blows into consideration fans can expect this fight to end with a knockout.
PFL CEO Peter Murray said this about 2022 PFL Season Kick-Off event:
The highly anticipated 2022 PFL Season kicks off April 20 on ESPN and ESPN+ in the U.S. and will be distributed internationally to over 160 countries on premium sports platforms. We are excited to deliver fans our next-gen product as well as the opportunity to follow the season-long journeys of our returning PFL Champions and top-ranked fighters from around the world compete in MMA’s most challenging and rewarding format.
PFL President of Fighters Operations, Ray Sefo had this to add:
The PFL has put together an action-packed card to kick off the 2022 Regular Season. I’m excited for fight fans around the world to watch the elite talent in our Lightweight and Lightweight Heavyweight divisions on April 20 live in primetime on ESPN.
The 2022 PFL Season will begin April 20 on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+. The remaining Regular Season events will take place on April 29th, May 6th, June 10th, June 17th, and June 25th.
ESPN Card
Raush Manfio vs. Don Madge
Anthony Pettis vs. Myles Price
Antonio Carlos Jr. vs. Delan Monte
Clay Collard vs. Jeremy Stephens
ESPN+ Card
Emiliano Sordi vs. Joshua Silveira
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. TBA
Marthin Hamlet vs. Teodoras Aukstuolis
Omari Akhmedov vs. Viktor Pesta
Robert Wilkinson vs. Bruce Souto
Alexander Martinez vs. Stevie Ray
Main Photo via PFL.
