The Professional Fighters League will start the PFL 2025 World Tournament on Thursday at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Winners in eight classes are set receive $500,000 and a championship belt.

PFL 2025 World Tournament First Round 1 sees the featherweight and welterweight brackets kick off the company’s latest rebrand. Several recognizable names populate the 145-pound weight class, from former PFL regular-season champions to top Bellator MMA contenders. Upon a deeper dive into the bracket, one name stands out above the others as the favorite to win it all. Not 2021 champion Movlid Khaybulaev, and not 2023 champion Jesus Pinedo. No, that distinction belongs to Jeremy Kennedy.

Adam Borics joins Khaybulaev and Pinedo near the top of the list of candidates to win the featherweight tournament, but Kennedy has been through the proverbial ringer throughout his career. The experience sets him apart. Having had to patiently wait for his opportunities, Kennedy has a well-established reputation as a gamer and shows the character necessary to carve out his own path. That path stars with Khaybulaev in the quarterfinals. Defeating a former champion in his tournament opener would put Kennedy in prime position to win it all. A victory over Khaybulaev sends the Canadian to the semifinals, where a date with either Nathan Kelly or Tae Kyun Kim would await.

Fighters only get one shot! Watch the PFL World Tournament LIVE at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Kennedy holds a 19-5 career record, and while he came up short in a title fight against Bellator champion Patricio Freire in 2024, he has challenged himself by accepting bouts against many of the top contenders the featherweight division has to offer. Khaybulaev certainly fits the mold. With the team at Xtreme Couture behind him, Kennedy will have plenty of high-level experience in his corner.

In addition to the support and seasoning from which he benefits, Kennedy also has the prospect of revenge on his mind entering the featherweight tournament. He dropped a unanimous decision to Gabriel Braga in his most recent appearance on Nov. 24. Braga faces Frederik Dupras in a quarterfinal on the other side of the 145-pound bracket, meaning Kennedy could conceivably meet the Brazilian again in the final.

Kennedy has seen and experienced it all in mixed martial arts—except for winning a major championship—and he has battled every opponent who has been placed in front of him, no questions asked. As he approaches the PFL 2025 World Tournament, “JBC” once again has the chance to fill the only remaining hole on his resume.

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