The Professional Fighters League leveled up this year as it added a second tournament to the works, opening a new branch in Europe. With its acquisition of Bellator MMA at the end of the year, skies appear brighter than ever for the league. In 2023, the PFL ran more events and fights than ever before, bringing a tournament that brought several repeat victors and a few eye-popping stats along the way.
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS IN 2023: 180
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS IN 2023: 22
Knockouts: 20
Technical Knockouts: 44
Submissions: 30
Decisions: 80
Draws: 1
No Contests: 5
2024 Will Bring Even More: Running eight Challenger Series cards and four more in Europe, the PFL set a new record for the most events in a single year as World Series of Fighting or its current incarnation. This surpasses last year’s total of 18.
Discouraging Price Point: PFL aired its second pay-per-view event on Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving, for the 2023 Championships. Like the 2022 finals, six belts were on the line—five on the pay portion of the card—and the price was set at $50.
A Post-Kayla Landscape: When counting two from the Challenger Series, three of the 22 fight cards in 2023 featured a women’s matchup in the main attraction. The regular season only had Larissa Pacheco on the marquee once, while Kayla Harrison never headlined.
Double Dollars: Three of the six champions that prevailed on Nov. 24 had previously won a PFL million-dollar tourney. Pacheco did so at lightweight, while Magomed Magomedkerimov got it done in 2018 while Olivier Aubin-Mercier “defended” his 2022 title.
Two Then Out: Winning back-to-back championships in his weight category, Aubin-Mercier joins Natan Schulte, Lance Palmer, Ray Cooper III and Kayla Harrison as the only fighters to achieve this feat in the company.
The Coolest Thing No One Is Talking About: By winning her bracket at 145 pounds, Pacheco became the first male or female competitor to prevail in PFL tournaments in two divisions.
Clean Sweepers: Of those that went all the way, Aubin-Mercier, Magomedkerimov and Pacheco went 4-0 in the tournament to win it all. Magomedkerimov is the sole competitor who finished both his fights in the regular season to take the top seed and later claim the giant check.
From Welterweight to Weltergreat: Light heavyweight Impa Kasanganay is the only American champ to claim gold this year with PFL. Two champs hail from Brazil, one from Russia, another from Canada and the featherweight Jesus Pinedo from Peru—the latter becoming the first major champ from that South American nation.
Earned It the Hard Way: Both Kasanganay and Pinedo were new to PFL this season. “Tshilobo” cracked into the tourney thanks to a contract-winning performance on the Challenger Series and a one-off win to take an alternate spot. He is the only fighter to go 5-0 in PFL this year.
Bigger Fists: Heavyweight champ Renan Ferreira needed the least time in the season to procure his belt: 26:02, including his 15-minute no-contest against Rizvan Kuniev. By contrast, Aubin-Mercier earned the same amount of money but took 60:49 to get there.
Slightly Increased Parity: Unlike many past tourneys, no victor finished all their foes en route to gold. Pinedo did notch three knockouts in his three wins to get there, but he first dropped a split decision to Gabriel Braga.
MMK All the Way: Magomedkerimov and Pacheco clinched their brackets as the top seeds for their performances and ended with the prize in November. Pinedo snuck in as the fourth seed thanks to a tiebreaker with Chris Wade.
Getting Out While the Getting’s Good: Winner of all 10 of his appearances, Aubin-Mercier is the sixth fighter in league history to achieve this feat. He joins Justin Gaethje, Marlon Moraes, David Branch, Magomedkerimov and Harrison.
The Fourth Fight Is Inevitable: Having picked up two stoppages across four wins this year compared to Harrison’s single victory, Pacheco gained some ground on her foe for the most wins and finishes for any female fighter. She does hold the record for the most knockouts (seven) among all women to fight for WSOF or PFL.
Still Want That Amosov Fight: After claiming four wins this year, Magomedkerimov assumed the top spot as the winningest fighter in organizational history. He passed names including Schulte, Harrison and Palmer on his way to No. 1.
Yikes: Three semifinal matchups featured a competitor missing weight, a record for the organization. Pinedo checked in heavy against Bubba Jenkins and knocked him out to advance, while Olena Kolesnyk and Carlos Leal Miranda suffered losses after coming in over their respective limits.
That Vacation Body Type: In a non-tourney match at 185 pounds, former welterweight kingpin Cooper could not find the 186-pound cap. He is one of a few fighters with the promotion to have missed weight in multiple divisions.
Some Progress: Last year, Myles Price dropped three fights to knock himself out of the season. No fighter lost three times in 2022, but 25 competitors across the weight categories did lose two times.
Over Half: Overall, fighters finished over 52% of their fights with the PFL this year. That comes above the overall average but beneath the company-high 2018 rate.
Fake Staredown: Shutting Jordan Zebo’s lights out in nine seconds, Cedric Doumbe recorded the fastest finish in organizational history at PFL Europe 3. He beat Movlid Khaybulaev’s time of 10 seconds at PFL 2019 2.
The Pacheco Effect: In 14 seconds, Pacheco decimated Kolesnyk to earn the stoppage. The Brazilian recorded the fastest finish of a female fighter with the company at PFL 2023 8.
Best PFL Knockout This Year: Sadibou Sy put Shane Mitchell out with a spinning wheel kick at PFL 2023 6. His knockout was the first of its kind in the PFL.
One-Minute Dental Work: Far slower than any record, the fastest submission performed in 2023 came when Marthin Hamlet cranked Mohammad Fakhreddine’s face in 65 seconds at PFL 2023 1.
Ah, My Face! Hamlet and Abdullah Al-Qahtani performed the first and second face cranks in PFL history by submitting Fakhreddine and Lamar Brown, respectively.
On Their Shields: With three technical submissions that saw Mohamed Amine, Sung Bin Jo and Ryoji Kudo put to sleep with chokes, this year ties 2022 for the fewest since 2016.
Not That Bapa: At PFL Europe 3, Boundjou Bapa Nadjombe’s corner threw in the towel at the end of Round 2 against Laureano Staropoli. His is just the fourth corner stoppage defeat in organizational history.
Channeling His Inner Gaethje: When Brendan Loughnane kicked Moraes’ legs out to force a stoppage at PFL 2023 1, the Manchester, England native made Moraes the first fighter in the company to both win and lose via leg kicks.
Eye-Rolling Spread: Shattering the record from 2022, 24 matches throughout the main and Europe seasons featured a betting favorite at -1000 or above. Pacheco and Dakota Ditcheva both had three fights with odds that high in their favor, but Ditcheva is the only one to exceed -3000, doing so twice.
Guaranteed Small Returns: In her four fights this year, Pacheco came in no less than -800, which displayed before facing Julia Budd. Her line of -1800 against Marina Mokhnatkina was far and away the highest of the finals matches.
Odds Are Weird: Eventual lightweight victor Pinedo procured the largest upset of the season when he flattened -900 Loughnane with a knee and punches. At +500, he was not the heftiest underdog, as that distinction goes to Bondo Kikadze (+550) before beating -800 Dominique Wooding.
No Way to Spin This One: 2022 welterweight finalist Dilano Taylor joined a group of competitors over the years that concluded their tourney seasons with negative points. Taylor lost both fights and in his second, he missed weight to end with a -1.
I Award You No Points: Schulte won a decision over Raush Manfio in a baffling contest between close friends and should have held six points to reach the playoffs. Instead, the PFL disqualified him from moving on, and advanced Shane Burgos in his place.
And May God Have Mercy on Your Soul: A significant number of PFL fighters, including two former champions, failed post-fight drug tests for various banned substances in 2023. Names including Thiago Santos, Robert Wilkinson and Bruno Cappelozza earned suspensions that ejected them from the tournament, resulting in five overturned victories.