Originally booked against Alexey
Kunchenko for his Professional Fighters League debut, Gleison
Tibau will now face countryman Joao
Zeferino on Thursday at the promotion’s second regular season
event at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J.
Zeferino was supposed to face Magomed Magomedkerivmov at PFL 2, but
his opponent withdrew from the card as well.
“My opponent had visa problems, while Zeferino’s had issues with
medical exams, so the organization decided to put me against João,”
Tibau told Sherdog.com.
According to Tibau, he and Zeferino were using the same backstage
area of the venue for their sparring when the organization
announced the new matchup on Sunday.
“Of course we would rather fight Russians, but we are
professionals. That´s our job,” said the 37-year-old Tibau.
Tibau will make his PFL debut at welterweight after competing for
years at 155 pounds.
“I´m feeling much better in that division. God knows how hard it
was for me to reach the lightweight limit,” he said. “At
welterweight I’m sure it will reflect in my performances. I´m
really motivated for the new phase of my career in PFL.”
Over the course of a 12-year tenure with the UFC, Tibau compiled a
16-12 record in the Octagon. He arguably gave former lightweight
champion Khabib
Nurmagomedov one of his toughest fights, losing a competitive
unanimous decision at UFC 148.
The 35-year-old Zeferino had a shorter tenure in the Octagon,
dropping a pair of decisions to Elias
Silverio and Rafael
Natal in 2013. “The Brazilian Samurai” signed with World Series
of Fighting in 2015 and remained with the organization as it
rebranded to PFL under new ownership. He has won six of nine bouts
in WSOF/PFL competition.
The PFL’s second regular season event features welterweights and
light heavyweights and is headlined by a 170-pound tilt between
Rory
MacDonald and Curtis
Millender. The evening’s main card airs on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. ET/6
p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ beginning at 5:30 p.m.
ET/2:30 p.m. PT.