Rory MacDonald appears to have an affinity for the hired-gun persona.

The former Bellator MMA titleholder and longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship contender will make his Professional Fighters League debut when he faces Curtis Millender in the 2021 PFL 2 headliner on Thursday at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event features competitors from the 170- and 205-pound weight classes.

PFL 2 “MacDonald vs. Millender”—which airs live on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT—also features a welterweight co-main event matching Ray Cooper III with Jason Ponet, a light heavyweight tilt pitting Emiliano Sordi against Chris Camozzi and a welterweight scrap pairing Joao Zeferino with Gleison Tibau. Meanwhile, ESPN+ will stream the undercard in its entirety at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT, a light heavyweight battle between Antonio Carlos Jr. and Tom Lawlor anchoring the five-fight slate of prelims.

A closer look at the 2021 PFL 2 particulars:

THE LINEUP

170: Rory MacDonald vs. Curtis Millender
170: Ray Cooper III vs. Jason Ponet
170: Joao Zeferino vs. Gleison Tibau
205: Emiliano Sordi vs. Chris Camozzi
205: Antonio Carlos Jr. vs. Tom Lawlor
205: Askar Mozharov vs. Jordan Young
205: Cezar Ferreira vs. Nick Roehrick
170: Sadibou Sy vs. Nikolay Aleksakhin
205: Dan Spohn vs. Marthin Hamlet

THE RUNDOWN

• 2021 PFL 2: Virtual Media Day
• Weigh-In Report
• Rivalries: Rory MacDonald
• Sizzle Reel: Ray Cooper III

---

Related Coverage »

---

• Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings
• Sherdog’s Pound-for-Pound Top 10 Rankings
• Sherdog’s WMMA Pound-for-Pound Top 10 Rankings