Top Reasons to Catch PFL 2

The Professional Fighters League will shift its 2024 season into high gear with PFL 2, where lightweights and light heavyweights step into the spotlight this Friday inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. Reigning PFL light heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay draws the headlining assignment, as he confronts Bellator MMA import Alex Polizzi at 205 pounds.

Kasanganay, 30, has rattled off six victories across his past seven appearances, emerging as one of the PFL’s most marketable and relatable stars. However, the Kill Cliff Fight Club rep finds himself on the rebound following a split decision defeat to unbeaten Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen at “PFL vs. Bellator Champs” on Feb. 24. The setback was Kasanganay’s first in almost two years. On the other side of the equation, Polizzi enters his promotional debut on the heels of back-to-back losses. The 32-year-old former Legacy Fighting Alliance titleholder last fought at Bellator 297, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Karl Moore on June 16. Polizzi has secured eight of his 10 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission.

In addition to the main event, here are four other reasons to catch PFL 2:

1. Razor’s Edge

Rob Wilkinson has plenty of questions to answer. The 2022 PFL light heavyweight champion returns to the cage for the first time since he served a nine-month suspension for a failed drug test when he collides with ex-British Association of Mixed Martial Arts titleholder Tom Breese in the co-main event. Wilkinson, who turned 32 in February, holds PFL victories over Omari Akhmedov, Delan Monte, Viktor Pesta and Bruce Souto. More than 2,200 days now separate “Razor Rob” from his most recent defeat—a technical knockout loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 221 in February 2018. Breese, meanwhile, has been something of an enigma throughout his career, though talent has never been in question. He made his organizational debut at PFL Europe 4 on Dec. 8, when he put away Cleiton Silva with a first-round rear-naked choke. Breese’s last appearance in America came before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

2. Fists Figure to Fly

PFL matchmakers knew exactly what they were doing when they paired Clay Collard with Patricky Freire in a compelling lightweight showcase. Fireworks are a virtual certainty. A 2023 PFL finalist at 155 pounds, Collard climbs back into the cage following back-to-back losses to Olivier Aubin-Mercier and A.J. McKee. While those setbacks did little to diminish his standing within the company, the 31-year-old Payson, Utah, native can ill afford another misstep. Collard, for all his skill as a boxer, tends to involve the judges in his bouts: Nearly half (17) of his 37 fights have gone the distance. He figures to have a willing dance partner in Freire. The former Bellator champion—“Pitbull” held the 155-pound title from Nov. 5, 2021 to Nov. 18, 2022—carries a well-established track record as a quick-strike knockout artist. Freire has eight first-round finishes to his credit, three of the sub-minute variety.

3. Up, Up and Away

Sadibou Sy does not lack ambition. The 2022 PFL welterweight champion plans to jump two full weight classes when he moves to 205 pounds to face American Top Team’s Joshua Silveira in a three-round light heavyweight attraction. Sy failed in his bid to repeat at 170 pounds in November, when he submitted to a guillotine choke from Magomed Magomedkerimov in the third round of their welterweight final at the 2023 PFL Championships. The loss snapped a career-best seven-fight winning streak for the 37-year-old Sy. No soft landing will be afforded to him as he relocates to another division. Long viewed as a potential building block for the PFL, Silveira has compiled a 5-2 record—Kasanganay and Akhmedov were responsible for his only defeats—through seven outings with the promotion. The son of Marcus “Conan” Silveira, he was a two-division champion in the LFA, where he reigned at 185 and 205 pounds.

4. Welcome Back

Antonio Carlos Jr. was out of sight and out of mind for close to two full years. “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” Season 3 winner and 2021 PFL light heavyweight champion steps back into view after reconstructive knee surgery for a torn ACL and sets his sights on Simon Biyong in an intriguing light heavyweight feature. Carlos Jr., 34, rides into the match on the strength of a six-fight unbeaten streak that has seen him go 5-0 with one no contest. The American Top Team rep last fought on June 17, 2022, when he took a three-round unanimous decision from the aforementioned Souto at PFL 4. Eleven of the decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt’s 15 career victories have resulted in submission. Biyong, meanwhile, has won six of his past eight bouts. The 33-year-old Cameroon native has been finished only once—Ernesto Papa did the honors with a rear-naked choke in 2018—as a pro.