Two heavyweight bouts have undergone changes heading into the
second leg of
Professional Fighters League’s 2024 season.
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Daniel
James has withdrawn from a proposed bout against Tyrell
Fortune at
PFL 4 on June 13. As a result, Marcelo
Golm will step in and face Fortune in a regular season bout at
heavyweight. Meanwhile, Oleg Popov
will now face Davion
Franklin after original foe Marcelo
Nunes pulled out of their clash on the same card. Sherdog.com
confirmed the updated heavyweight bouts with a promotion official
following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com.
PFL 4 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut,
and features regular season bouts at heavyweight and women’s
flyweight. In the evening’s main event, Valentin
Moldavsky will square off against Linton
Vassell.
Fortune and James were supposed to meet at PFL 1 before Fortune
withdrew from the event. Fortune was also previously slated to lock
horns with Golm at Bellator 301 before an illness forced the
Brazilian out of the fight. This will be Fortune’s PFL debut and
first bout since a DQ triumph over Sergey
Bilostenniy at Bellator 294 in April 2023.
Golm, meanwhile, faced James in a rematch at PFL 1, falling via
technical knockout at the 4:59 mark of Round 1. The 31-year-old Sao
Paulo native also fought James one bout prior, losing via
third-round TKO at Bellator 293.
Popov has lost just once in 18 professional outings. The Russian is
coming off a second-round stoppage of Steve Mowry
at PFL 1. Popov has won 16 straight fights and hasn’t tasted defeat
since November 2016.
Franklin will enter the PFL season on the heels of a loss to
Slim
Trabelsi in his last outing at Bellator 300, when he suffered a
leg injury at the 3:01 mark of Round 1. “All Day” has compiled a
6-2 career mark while competing exclusively for Bellator.