The Professional Fighters League`s (PFL) first-ever event on the African continent is set to happen earlier than initially planned. Originally scheduled for July 26, the PFL Africa debut has been moved forward by a week and will now take place on July 19.
The event will be hosted at the GrandWest Arena in Cape Town, South Africa. It`s important to note that the PFL Africa showcase is actually comprised of two separate fight cards held consecutively.
The latter portion is a PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai event. This card is headlined by middleweight champion Johnny Eblen defending his title against Costello van Steenis. The co-main event features an exciting flyweight clash between undefeated star Dakota Ditcheva and Sumiko Inaba.
The first part of the showcase, officially designated as PFL Africa 1, will kick off the league`s regional tournaments for African fighters. Heavyweight and bantamweight competitors will be in action. The initial matchups announced for these tournaments are as follows:
PFL Africa 1 Tournament Bouts:
- Nkosi Ndebele vs. Mahmoud Atef — bantamweight
- Shannon Van Tonder vs. Boule Godogo — bantamweight
- Antero Dos Santos vs. Karim Henniene — bantamweight
- Simbarashe Hokonya vs. Alain Majorique — bantamweight
PFL Africa 1 Tournament Bouts:
- Maxwell Djantou Nana vs. Mikael Groguhe — heavyweight
- Jashell Ticha Awa vs. Justin Clarke — heavyweight
- Abdoullah Kane vs. Mohammed Ben Yahia — heavyweight
- Badredinne Medkouri vs. TBD — heavyweight
Also announced for the card is Juliet Ukah vs. TBD, though the specific event part was not detailed in the lineup announcement.
Interestingly, the new July 19 date places the PFL Africa event in direct competition with UFC 318. That UFC pay-per-view is expected to be headlined by a highly anticipated trilogy bout between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier, a fight that Poirier has indicated might be his last.
