Professional Fighters League has unveiled the card for its final
regular season event for welterweights and light heavyweights.
The promotion announced on Wednesday that PFL 5 on June 17 will be
headlined by a 170-pound clash between Rory
MacDonald and Gleison
Tibau, while defending welterweight champ Ray Cooper
III will square off against Nikolai Aleksakhin in the co-main
event. Returning 205-pound king Emiliano
Sordi will meet Dan Spohn in
another main card matchup, while Cezar Mutante will lock horns with
Chris
Camozzi to round out the main draw, which is televised on
ESPN2.
The preliminary card, which airs on ESPN2, is as follows: Antonio
Carlos Jr. vs. Vinny
Magalhaes at light heavyweight; Marthin
Hamlet vs. Cory
Hendricks at light heavyweight; Joao
Zeferino vs. Jason Ponet
at welterweight; Magomed
Magomedkerimov vs. Curtis
Millender at welterweight; Tom Lawlor
vs. Jordan
Young at light heavyweight and Sadibou Sy
vs. Alexey
Kunchenko at welterweight.
“There were a lot of exciting first round finishes that took place
in the first half of the season for the welterweight and light
heavyweight divisions and all of these fighters know it may take
another first round victory to seal their fates in the playoffs,”
PFL president Ray Sefo said.
“All these fighters can still qualify for the PFL playoffs and know
it will be a challenge as they face a win or go home scenario. I
can’t wait to see what happens next on June 17.”
MacDonald, one of the promotion’s most prized free-agent
acquisitions, enjoyed a successful debut, as he submitted Millender
3:38 into the opening round of their bout at PFL 2 on April 29.
Tibau, meanwhile, dropped a unanimous verdict to Joao
Zeferino in his debut at PFL 2. The Brazilian was making his
first welterweight appearance after a lengthy UFC tenure at 155
pounds.