PFL 2025 World Tournament One to Watch: Joshua Silveira

The Professional Fighters League will move ahead with the latest leg of its PFL 2025 World Tournament when middleweights and lightweights take center stage this Friday at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. It marks the first time in six years that the PFL has been in the middleweight business, and a deep pool of talent, including former champions, anchors the field at 185 pounds.

The middleweight bracket consists of former PFL champions Sadibou Sy and Impa Kasanganay, onetime Bellator MMA title challenger Fabian Edwards and a number of other accomplished prizefighters: Joshua Silveira, Mike Shipman, Dalton Rosta, Aaron Jeffery and Murad Ramazanov. Silveira challenged Kasanganay for the PFL title in 2023, and the two men met again in the 2024 semifinals. Kasanganay won both.

Fighters only get one shot! Watch the PFL World Tournament LIVE Friday, April 18 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+.

Silveira’s growth between the first and second Kasanganay fights was noticeable, and with his well-renowned father and coach Marcus “Conan” Silveira in his corner, further improvement should be expected. He returns to the middleweight division, where he won a championship in the Legacy Fighting Alliance before he signed with the PFL. It will be a familiar theme with many of the tournament participants, though Silveira may be one of the biggest beneficiaries. While the American Top Team rep never appeared to be undersized in his bouts at 205 pounds, competition at middleweight could bring out the best in him.

Silveira opens the tournament against Shipman as part of the PFL 2025 World Tournament 3 undercard in what should be a stern test. Three of Silveira’s four career defeats have come to former PFL champions in Kasanganay (twice) and Rob Wilkinson. He has faced some of the best competitors the organization has to offer since he joined the roster via the PFL Challenger Series in 2022.

Should he get past Shipman, Silveira would face the Kasanganay-Edwards winner in the semifinals. The road to a PFL title figures to be fraught with danger, but the tournament provides “Coninha” with the type of high-level proving ground he needs at this stage of his career. Silveira has attempted to climb the PFL mountain in each of the past two seasons, and a move to a weight class more suited to his skills should give him his best opportunity yet to reach the top.

Middleweight arguably ranks as the most intriguing of the eight PFL brackets. It highlights much of the top-flight talent the company has to offer and features compelling matchups across the board. There are no shortcuts at 185 pounds, but Silveira seems to have the necessary goods to get to the top. He has nearly done so already under less-than-ideal conditions, and his move to middleweight will play a key factor in whether or not he finally becomes PFL world champion.