Professional Fighters League (PFL) staged it’s second event of the 2025 World Tournament last night (Fri., April 11, 2025) in Orlando, Fla., featuring the men’s Bantamweights and women’s Flyweight contenders looking to vie for the $500,000 prize at the end of the combat rainbow.
And just like the 2025 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, brackets were busted thanks to one upset after another.
The first underdog to win on the night was Elora Dana, who was making her PFL debut against former Bellator star, Diana Avsaragova, submitting her with 12 seconds left in the very first round. In the next fight, Jena Bishop defeated Kana Watanabe via unanimous decision to advance to the semifinals.
In the main event of the “prelims,” former Bellator women’s Flyweight champion, Juliana Velasquez, suffered one of the biggest upsets of the night after she was submitted by Ekaterina Shakalova — who took the fight on short notice — in the very first round (see it again here). Now, Shakalova will face Bishop, while Liz Carmouche — who stopped Llara Joanne in the very first round — battles Dana in the next round for the right to compete in the $500,000 finale.
In men’s Bantamweight action, Justin Wetzell defeated Kasum Kasumov via unanimous decision to advance to the next round, upsetting a lot of bookies in the process since he came in at a + 600 underdog on the night.
And just when you thought there couldn’t be a bigger upset on the night, the main event rolled around between former Bellator contender, Leandro Higo, and Marcirley Alves. Higo was originally set to face Magomed Magomedov before he was forced out with an injury. As a result, Josh Rettinghouse was pegged as his replacement, though he was pulled from the event the day before fight night after he was not cleared to fight.
As a result, PFL officials scrambled to lock down a new main event and tasked Marcirley Alves — who was set to be the opening fight of the night against Vilson Ndregjoni — to step in and fill the void. And it was a move that paid off big time for the scrappy Brazilian, who was making his PFL debut.
Indeed, Alves stunned and dropped Higo early in the fight, setting the tone for what was eventually a long and arduous fight for the former Bellator veteran. After 15 minutes of back-and-forth action, Alves had done enough to secure the biggest upset of the night by defeating his foe via split decision, advancing to the next round, in the process.
After what was a tumultuous week with two main event changes in the span of three days for PFL, the event turned out to be rather entertaining thanks to all of the upsets and finishes, including this rare Scottish twister courtesy of Jake Hadley.
That said, can we expect more of the same next week?
Full PFL 2 Results:
Marcirley Alves def. Leandro Higo via split decision
Liz Carmouche def. Ilara Joanne via TKO – HIGHLIGHTS!
Mando Gutierrez def. Francesco Nuzzi via submission (rear-naked choke)
Justin Wetzell def. Kasum Kasumov via unanimous decision
Ekaterina Shakalova def. Julianna Velasquez via sub (rear-naked choke) – HIGHLIGHTS!
Jake Hadley def. Matheus Mattos via submission (Scottish twister) – HIGHLIGHTS!
Jena Bishop def. Kana Watanabe via unanimous decision
Elora Dana def. Diana Avsaragova via submission
For all the latest PFL news and notes click here.
