Mads
Burnell believes if you’re a true fighter, the
Professional Fighters League an ideal place to compete.
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Burnell headlines
PFL 5 at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, opposite
Clay
Collard on June 21. The card featuring lightweight and light
heavyweight bouts marks the promotion’s debut in Utah. This will
also mark a turnaround of a little over two months from Burnell’s
PFL debut in April.
While newcomers at the PFL often have difficulty adjusting to the
frequency of the fights, Burnell absolutely loves the quick
turnaround. The PFL season format features fighters across six
weight classes competing in two regular season bouts to decide who
will proceed to the playoffs, which consists of semifinals and a
final, with $1 million at stake. The season format combined with
the pay-per-view cards and now Bellator events, keeps PFL fighters
more active than most other promotions. Burnell believes the PFL is
for true fighters who are just keen on competing instead of
handpicking matchups.
“I love it. I love the quick turnaround and not having to wait like
three, six [months], however long you have to wait in between your
fights,” Burnell said during a recent media call. “And that’s a
thing I think more promotions need to get on, like why the f—k do
we fight? We fight because it’s fun. We love it. Of course we want
to and get paid as well, right? So not all this picking and
choosing, just get in there, put on fights. Yeah, I love the PFL
tournament format. I think it’s super cool. And especially if
you’re like a true fighter and you just wanna get in there, PFL is
100% the place to be.”
Burnell was retained by the PFL after the promotion’s takeover of
Bellator in November, 2023. Burnell moved up a weight class, to
lightweight, for his PFL debut this past April, when he suffered a
second-round submission loss to Michael
Dufort, snapping a two-fight winning streak. However, the
Danish prospect did feel comfortable in his new division.
“My biggest takeaway was how great I felt going up a weight class,”
Burnell said. “I’ve never felt as good as going into that fight and
the weight cut and all that stuff. So that’s probably the biggest
takeaway, how great I felt at lightweight.”