PFL Hollywood, the final event of the 2025 PFL World Tournament, is upon us. Thursday evening, after a four and a half month journey, the final three divisions in the promotion will have their champions crowned for 2025.
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL serves as the setting for the ultimate card on the PFL World Tournament schedule for this year. Inside the United States, live coverage of this Thursday’s show begins with the early card at 6:30 pm ET/ 3:30 pm PT on ESPN+, as well as the new direct-to-consumer ESPN flagship streaming service.
PFL Hollywood is among the first live events to be shown on the ESPN flagship streaming service, set to launch Thursday morning at 9 am ET/ 6 am PT. If you’re watching internationally, the show will be seen via DAZN.
All told, if there are no adjustments made to the itinerary for PFL Hollywood, including showcase bouts, the final version of the show will feature 10 MMA bouts. Three title fights top the bill on the late card
PFL Hollywood Main Event: 2025 PFL Middleweight Championship: Fabian Edwards vs. Dalton Rosta
In your main event of the evening, this year’s king of the middleweights will be decided when Fabian Edwards (15-4 MMA) and Dalton Rosta (11-1 MMA), both formerly of Bellator MMA, battle for the belt. All title fights on PFL Hollywood are an advertised maximum of five rounds at five minutes per round.
Edwards will be entering the SmartCage having gone 3-2 in his last five fights. His road to Thursday’s championship saw him defeat Impa Kasanganay (18-6 MMA) inside the second round during the Orlando quarterfinal on April 18 before moving onto face off with Josh Silveira (14-5 MMA) in the semifinals, taking that one by unanimous decision in Chicago on June 28.
Fabian Edwards has never fought Dalton Rosta before, so this should be a great test for him. Rosta has been known to be a difficult fighter to beat, however.
The former member of the Youngstown State University football roster as a walk-on under Bo Pelini has posted a record of 4-1 in his last five MMA fights. Currently, he’s won three bouts in succession.
During the quarterfinal phase of this tournament, Rosta locked in a D’arce choke submission to stop Sadibou Sy (17-9-2, 1 NC MMA) in the third round. After, he traveled to The Windy City, getting revenge for his only career defeat by securing a split decision victory over Aaron Jeffery (16-6 MMA) in late June.
Can Dalton Rosta give his hometown of New Castle, PA something to cheer about heading into the upcoming weekend? Tune into the PFL Hollywood main event and find out.
PFL Hollywood Co-Main Event: 2025 PFL Light Heavyweight Championship: Sullivan Cauley vs. Antonio Carlos Junior
Immediately beforehand, the title at 205 lbs will be at stake in the PFL Hollywood co-main event. Sullivan Cauley (8-1 MMA) squares off against 2021 PFL Light Heavyweight Champion4-1 Antonio Carlos Junior (18-6, 2 NC MMA.) The former comes into South Florida sporting a 4-1 record in his last five bouts.
En route to the final, he stopped Alex Polizzi (11-5 MMA) with elbows inside the first round of his quarterfinal contest on May 1 in Orlando. From there, he advanced to meet Phil Davis (25-8, 1 NC MMA) in Chicago, besting “Mr. Wonderful” by unanimous decision, setting up this title fight.
PFL Hollywood’s co-main event will only be Cauley’s 10th professional appearance, but he’s already just 25 minutes (or less) away from achieving a title victory. Will he get his hand raised later this week?
Across the way, Antonio Carlos Junior has gone 4-1 in his five most recent fights dating back to 2022. He traversed to the championship by first defeating Karl Moore (12-4 MMA) by split decision in the quarterfinals before winning unanimously over Simeon Powell (11-2 MMA) in the Chicago semifinals.
Carlos has already won a championship once in the PFL, so can he add another belt to his mantle at home? Only time will tell.
PFL Hollywood: 2025 PFL Heavyweight Championship: Alexandr Romanov vs. Oleg Popov
Also on the late card of PFL Hollywood, the 2025 PFL Heavyweight Championship is on the line. Alexandr Romanov (19-3, 1 NC MMA) will lock horns with Oleg Popov (21-2 MMA.) The former has gone 3-1 with one no-contest in the past five fights in MMA. Romanov’s road to the heavyweight title fight was a little bumptious, however.
Upon his quarterfinal victory over Tim Johnson (18-12 MMA) by way of first-round submission (standing guillotine choke), he advanced to collide with Valentin Moldavsky (14-4, 2 NC MMA) during the semifinals. There, Romanov suffered an inadvertent low blow in round one, rendering him unable to finish the fight and resulting in a no-contest.
The judges ruled, however, that because Romanov won the first round of the fight on their scorecards prior to time being called, he would survive and progress through to the championship bout.
To a man, Romanov and his camp are hopeful that their fighter can win cleanly on Thursday.
In the other corner, Oleg Popov has posted a 4-1 record over his last five contests going back to 2024. During the May 1 quarterfinals, he outpaced Karl Williams (10-3 MMA) by split decision before moving on and besting Rodrigo Nascimento (12-4, 1 NC MMA) via unanimous decision.
This is Popov’s second career championship fight, having already won the MMA Series Heavyweight Championship in 2021 with a first-round submission over Fayoz Shomurodov (4-5 MMA) in Russia.
Can he go 2-for-2 on Thursday night?
Final Thoughts
Which of the three title fights on PFL Hollywood are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.
