Fabricio
Werdum will begin his quest to add a Professional Fighters
League championship belt to his trophy case on Thursday night.
The Brazilian heavyweight veteran made weight without issue ahead
of the promotion’s third regular season event, as he tipped the
scales at 241.4 pounds. His opponent, Renan
Ferreira, also hit his contracted mark at 252 pounds.
There was one change to the card, however, as Muhammed
DeReese (257.6) replaced Justin
Willis and will face Denis
Goltsov (240.4) in a heavyweight contest.
PFL 3 takes place at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J.,
and features heavyweights and women’s lightweights. The main card
airs on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Prelims begin on ESPN+ at 5:30
p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT and then move to ESPN/ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET/4
p.m. PT.
A former UFC champion, Werdum last competed at UFC on ESPN 14 in
July 2020, when he submitted former Alexander
Gustafsson with an armbar in the opening stanza. That snapped a
two-bout losing streak for the 43-year-old “Vai Cavalo,” who had
fallen to Alexey
Oleynik and Alexander
Volkov in his previous Octagon appearances.
Ferreira enters his PFL debut with a 6-2 career mark. The
31-year-old Team Nogueira product last appeared at Legacy Fighting
Alliance 74, where he submitted current UFC talent Jared
Vanderaa in the second round in August 2019.
PFL 3 Weigh-in Results:
Fabricio
Werdum (241.4) vs. Renan
Ferreira (252)
Kayla
Harrison (155.2) vs. Mariana
Morais (153)
Mohammed
Usman (239) vs. Brandon
Sayles (264.2)
Larissa
Pacheco (155.2) vs. Julija
Pajic (155.8)
Ante
Delija (233.2) vs. Bruno
Henrique Cappelozza (234)
Cindy
Dandois (153) vs. Kaitlin
Young (155)
Genah
Fabian (155.8) vs. Laura
Sanchez (155.4)
Denis
Goltsov (240.4) vs. Muhammed
DeReese (257.6)
Helena
Kolesnyk (155.2) vs. Taylor
Guardado (154.6)
Kyron
Bowen (170.8) vs. Magomed
Umalatov (170.2)