The B-League: PFL 9, aka World Tournament Finals (2025)
We return to the PFL with penultimate card for the 2025 World Tournament.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 15
BOJANGLES COLISEUM, CHARLOTTE, NC, USA
MAIN CARD: 9 PM (Eastern)
BROADCAST: ESPN/ESPN+
MAIN EVENT: LIGHTWEIGHT FINAL - Gadzhi Rabadanov (26-4-2) vs Alfie Davis (19-5-1)
Gadzi won both of his 2025 PFL bouts in just over a combined 3 minutes. He pounded out Marc Diakiese in 32 seconds, then he took a fully 2:37 to finish Kevin Lee, dropping multiple times in that span. Gadzi’s on a twelve fight win streak, having last lost in 2020. Inside that win streak, he’s also on a four fight finishing streak, all by TKO.
Alfie Davis defeated Clay Collard by first round TKO, and then got a decision victory over Brent Primus to get to the finals.
Alfie’s a solid striker, and he has shown some decent takedown defense against Primus. However, right before the PFL 2025 tournament, he did get submitted by Mansour Barnaoui. I think Rabadanov has more avenues for victory here. If he gets into trouble standing, Gadzhi can probably get the fight to the ground and work from there. Gadzi wins by TKO.
CO-MAIN: FLYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FINAL- Liz Carmouche (24-8) vs Jena Bishop (9-2)
Liz beat Ilara Joanne by first round TKO, then Elora Dana by decision.
Bishop got a decision over Kana Watanabe, and then submitted Ekaterina Shakalova to make it to the finals.
I don’t give a good god damn what the numbers say. Liz Carmouch is winning this fight. And next year, she’s going to face Dakota Ditcheva and crumple that child into a ball and spike her in a trash can. Girl-Rilla forever!
BANTAMWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FINAL - Marcirley Alves (14-4) vs Justin Wetzell (12-2)
Alves won by split decision over Leandro Higo in the opening round, then took a unanimous decision against Jake Hadley.
Wetzell beat Kasum Kasumov and Mando Gutierrez, both by decisions.
Wetzell missed weight for the Kasumov fight. That used to be a disqualifying infraction in the PFL tournament, but 2025 is clearly the “fuck it, who gives a shit?” year. Also, it just feels weird that these two guys with zero previous PFL history have made it to the finals. I’ll go with Alves since he’s at least a professional enough fighter to make weight in the Professional Fighter’s League.
LIGHTWEIGHT - Mads Burnell (20-7) vs Robert Watley (15-3)
My word. It was NINE years ago that Mads Burnell pulled off back to back first round Japanese necktie submissions, earning a UFC contract in the process. He then went 1-2, with the sole win tainted by a five pound weight miss. But hey, he bounced back with some more Japanese neckties in Cage Warriors and went 5-2 in Bellator. Now he’s 2-2 in PFL, but it seems like things are winding down for ol’ Mads.
Wait. He’s only 31? Sheesh!
Watley was in PFL in 2018, going 1-2 in the company. The win came by TKO due to accidental groin strike, which is baffling, and he dropped decisions to Will Brooks and Chris Wade. Nothing to be ashamed about! He does have a weird gap on his record, having no fights between 2020 - 2022. He returned to action in 2023, exclusively fighting in CFFC.
Mads is younger, but he’s giving up height and reach. Mads has faced and mostly beat better competition, but he’s also got more fights and damage accumulated. I’ll take Watley to edge a decision.
Prelim Card
Flyweight - Juliana Velasquez (13-4) vs Ekaterina Shakalova (9-3)
Sure let’s just do a rematch from four months ago. Let’s just negate everything that happened in the first fight to see if the intended outcome happens.
PFL truly is in the “who give a shit” era. Ekaterina wins by submission again. Why not.
Lightweight - Biaggio Ali Walsh (2-1) vs Adryan Grundy (3-1)
Alert, alert. The grandson has fallen, I repeat, the grandson has fallen. After five amateur fights in the Professional Fighters League, then the highly anticipated pro debut in the PFL, Biaggio Ali Walsh lost in his third bout to a guy who regularly takes bookings at Bantamweight. In a few more years, if he plays his cards right, Biaggio Ali Walsh could make his UFC debut in the co-main event of a “Premium Live Event” card for an instant title eliminator (For further context, check out Carl’s UFC preview).
As for Walsh’s in-cage skills, he’s a punching man, like his grandpappy, who, if you were not aware, is Muhammad Ali.
Grundy’s an interesting case. He had a losing amateur record and went pro any way. He’s currently 3-1 as a professional, but he hasn’t won a fight higher than at 150 lb catchweight. It looks like he’s a natural Featherweight coming in undersized against a larger opponent. Now, that’s just odd. Why on earth would Donn Davis authorize that kind of matchmaking? Weird!
Anyway, Biaggio by TKOggio.