Preview: PFL 2 ‘Pacheco vs. Budd’

Heavyweights

Bruno Cappelozza (15-6, 5-1 PFL) vs. Matheus Scheffel (17-9, 2-2 PFL)

ODDS: Cappelozza (-205), Scheffel (+165)

One season after making an improbable run to the PFL heavyweight championship, Cappelozza’s bid for a repeat was denied by another Brazilian upstart in Scheffel. Unlike Cappelozza, Scheffel was unable to complete the journey, as he suffered a first-round stoppage loss to Ante Delija at the 2022 PFL World Championships. A former Dana White’s Contender Series alum with brawling tendencies, Scheffel seemed like a tailor-made matchup to help Cappelozza advance to the postseason. Instead, “Buffa” made it his kind of fight early and kept the pressure on throughout in a unanimous decision triumph. Scheffel compromised Cappelozza’s movement with a steady diet of low kicks and rocked his fellow Brazilian during a spirited exchange in Round 1 to set the tone for his upset victory. Scheffel is not a great defensive wrestler, but he was able to sprawl and stuff the majority of Cappelozza’s takedowns in their first meeting. More importantly, despite having seven KO/TKO losses on his resume, Scheffel’s chin held up against the typically heavy-handed Corinthians MMA product down the stretch. That is no small feat considering that Cappelozza has earned 14 of his 15 career victories via knockout or technical knockout. Perhaps some of Cappelozza’s struggles can be attributed to his inability to recover from a difficult opening stanza.

It is quite possible that Scheffel and Cappelozza might simply be well-matched foes, with much hinging on either heavyweight’s ability to impose his will in the early moments of their bout. Cappelozza is still plenty dangerous, whether it is attacking with flurries of power punches on the feet or landing fight-finishing ground-and-pound on the canvas, and he only needs one opening to turn the tide in his favor. Scheffel will compete with the confidence of a previous victory over Cappelozza, but it is always a question if his chin will hold up when the action gets heated. Call this one a coinflip, but it feels like fortune might favor Cappelozza this time. He gets it done via KO/TKO.

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Pacheco vs. Budd
Cappelozza vs. Scheffel
Goltsov vs. De Castro
Kuniev vs. Ferreira
Ladd vs. Kolesnyk
The Prelims