The same million-dollar carrot dangles in front of Antonio Carlos Jr. and Bruce Souto as the Professional Fighters League returns to the stage following a five-week hiatus.
With patriotic ties set aside, the Brazilian hopefuls will lock horns in the PFL 4 co-main event on Friday at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. Both men competed at PFL 1 on April 20 and have remained idle since. Carlos Jr.—the reigning PFL champion at 205 pounds—enters the cage on a three-fight winning streak after he kicked off his 2022 campaign by submitting Delan Monte with a brabo choke a mere 29 seconds into their encounter. Souto, meanwhile, saw his run of nine consecutive victories grind to a halt in a second-round technical knockout loss to Rob Wilkinson. The setback was his first in nearly seven years.
As Carlos Jr. and Souto move ever closer to their three-round battle, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
32: Years of age for Carlos Jr., who was born on March 16, 1990 in Joao Pessoa, Brazil.
11: Carlos Jr. victories by submission, accounting for 79% of his career total (14). His methods of choice: six rear-naked chokes, two arm-triangle chokes, one armbar, one guillotine choke and one brabo choke. Carlos Jr. holds three other victories by decision.
8: First-round finishes on the Carlos Jr. resume, with two of them having taken place in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He put away Jack Marshman with a rear-naked choke in 4:30 at UFC Fight Night 119 on Oct. 28, 2017 and dispatched Tim Boetsch with a rear-naked choke in 4:28 at UFC on Fox 29 on April 14, 2018.
9: Calendar years in which Carlos Jr. has fought at least once. In addition to his 1-0 mark in 2022, he went 3-0 in 2013, 1-1 in 2014, 1-0 with one no contest in 2015, 2-1 in 2016, 2-0 in 2017, 1-0 in 2018, 0-2 in 2019 and 3-1 with one no contest in 2021.
.695: Cumulative winning percentage between the five opponents—Brad Tavares, Uriah Hall, Ian Heinisch, Daniel Kelly and Patrick Cummins—who have defeated Carlos Jr. They sport a combined record of 73-32.
32: Years of age for Souto, who was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil, on June 20, 1989.
4: Souto wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 27% of his career total (15). His list of victims: Travis Davis, Pedro Paulo Goncalves, Juliano Gomes and Rick Palhares. Souto owns three other wins by submission and eight more by decision.
70: Seconds needed for Souto to bring down Palhares with a head kick at War of Champions 2 on Nov. 15, 2014. Having occurred seven-plus years ago, it remains his fastest finish to date.
34: Professional rounds completed by Souto as a mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 10 different occasions and carries an 8-2 record in those bouts.
52: Combined victories between the four men—Wilkinson, Vinicius Bohrer, Alexandre Nunes Brandao and Fernando Ribeiro—who have beaten Souto. They boast a cumulative .619 winning percentage (52-31).