The first half of the 2024 PFL regular season begins with three exciting events. As always, there was no shortage of surprising, shocking, and exciting moments that made fans around the world go “wow!”
From great debuts to new candidates to take over, here are some of the biggest storylines from the first half of the new PFL season.
New heavyweight king?
With Bellator’s acquisition last year, the PFL welcomed some big names to an already stacked roster, several of whom made their PFL regular season debuts. Perhaps the most successful debut came from former Bellator interim heavyweight champion Valentin Moldavsky. He announced his arrival in a big way earlier this month at the PFL’s main event in San Antonio.
It took Moldavsky about half a round to defeat 2022 PFL Heavyweight Champion Ante Delja and take over the top spot in the heavyweight rankings.
If this is an indicator of how dominant Moldavsky will become, we may be looking at this season’s PFL heavyweight champion.
Things are getting dangerous in the women’s flyweight division.
This season will also debut a new weight class, women’s flyweight, featuring some of the world’s most dangerous 125-pounders.
Speaking of danger, PFL UK champion Dakota Ditcheva made perhaps the biggest splash in the division with a dominant first-round TKO victory in her Global Roster debut. Ditcheva is the clear favorite to win the league’s first 125-pound women’s title, along with Bellator champion Liz Carmouche and former UFC standout Tyra Santos, and it will be exciting to see these stars square off. It’s going to happen.
205 pounds of madness
It’s safe to say that the PFL’s light heavyweight division is the most prolific division in the league.
After the first half of the season, there are five fighters in the standings, all with six points each. This means that all five of the light heavyweight’s previous fights have ended in first-round stoppages, which is a pretty wild statistic.
Former champions Impa Kasanganay, Rob Wilkinson and Antonio Carlos Junior, as well as Josh Silveria and Dobrezhan Yagshimuradov, are also aiming for postseason appearances. A clearer picture will emerge once the rest of the season is over, but it will be fun to see who actually makes it to the semifinals.
One of the subplots that has emerged in the light heavyweight division this season is former welterweight champion Sadive Sy’s disastrous debut at 205 pounds, lost to injury at PFL: Las Vegas. If Cy misses the postseason, it will be the first time in his PFL career.
brendan lochnane revenge tour
Two seasons ago, Brendan Loughnane’s story was the most compelling thing happening in the PFL. Loughnane, who has long been a favorite with PFL fans but always came up short, finally won the big match and became the first British world champion since Michael Bisping.
Loughnane reached the top of the world, but the following season he lost to eventual champion Jesus Pinedo and was eliminated from playoff contention.
At PFL:Chicago, Loughnane bounced back with a first-round TKO over Pedro Carvalho to take over the No. 1 spot in the 145-pound rankings.
Will Loughnane be able to return to the top of the mountain this year? You’ll find out soon.
The second half of the 2024 PFL regular season will resume on June 13th at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.
