RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The PFL: Battle of the Giants fight card now is set following Friday’s official weigh-ins session, where all 20 fighters successfully hit their marks on the scale.
Saturday’s event at The Mayadeen (ESPN+ pay-per-view, DAZN) is headlined by a pair of anticipated superfight title fights, as well as a main card with key matchups and prelims with regional talent.
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Check out the weigh-in highlights in the video above and a link to the photo gallery from all of Friday’s happenings below.
See how the fighters of PFL: Battle of the Champions looked on the scale at official weigh-ins with video highlights and a photo gallery.
The full card headlined by Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson for the Most Valuable Promotions event at AT&T Stadium just outside Dallas on Nov. 15 has been revealed.
Paul faces Tyson in an eight round heavyweight main event with the card airing live on Netflix for no additional cost to subscribers.
In addition to Paul vs. Tyson, a highly anticipated rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano serves as the 10-round co-main event. Taylor puts all of her super lightweight titles on the line for the rematch after winning a razor-close decision over Serrano in their first encounter.
A WBC welterweight title fight also takes place on the card as reigning champion Mario Barrios takes on Abel Ramos in a 12-round bout. The final fight rounding out the main card pits Neeraj Goyat against Whindersson Nunes in a six-round super middleweight fight.
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As for the prelims, Shadasia Green, who counts Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions as her promoter and managers, takes on undefeated contender Melinda Watpool.
Lucas Bahdi clashes with Corey Marskman in a 10-round lightweight fight between two undefeated prospects. Bruce Carrington Jr. rounds out the preliminary card when he faces Dana Coolwell.
The card airs globally on Netflix with the event kicking off at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 15.
Umar Nurmagomedov no longer will headline ADXC 7 next week in Abu Dhabi.
The UFC bantamweight standout was set to grapple former Bellator champion Eduardo Dantas in a no-gi featherweight match Oct. 25 at Mubadala Arena. The event takes place one day before UFC 308 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, which is headlined by a featherweight title fight between champion Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway.
But Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has been pulled from the event, a person with knowledge of the move told MMA Junkie on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because ADXC has not yet made the change official.
No official reason was given for Nurmagomedov’s removal from the event, but in recent weeks rumors about his next UFC fight have ramped up. Although he is gunning for a shot at new champion Merab Dvalishvili, who won the belt from Sean O’Malley at UFC 306, Nurmagomedov also has been linked to a main event in Tampa, Fla., in December against Song Yadong.
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Nurmagomedov is fresh off a main event win over Cory Sandhagen at UFC on ABC 7 in August in Abu Dhabi. The undefeated 28-year-old emerged as a title contender and was expected to be Dvalishvili’s first attempted title defense, though the champ reportedly is not yet ready to fight.
Dantas, a two-time Bellator champion, is a second degree jiu-jitsu black belt with seven wins by submission. The 35-year-old Brazilian’s most recent appearance in MMA came in May 2023 – a decision loss to Denis Lavrentyev at RCC 15.
Appropriately timed, reports of a new grappling matchup for the event surfaced Friday with former UFC flyweight standout Muhammad Mokaev against UFC young rising star Raul Rosas Jr., which certainly will take some of the sting off losing Nurmagomedov from the event for fans.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
The Los Angeles Dodgers routed the New York Mets at Citi Field for the second consecutive night, winning 10-2 behind strong performances at the plate from superstars Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. L.A. now has a 3-1 lead in the series and can clinch as soon as Friday’s Game 5 (5 p.m. ET on FS1 and the FOX Sports App).
Ohtani homered against Jose Quintana to lead off the game. The likely 2024 National League MVP took Quintana’s first pitch for a ball, then drove a sinker over the middle of the plate 422 feet into the Mets’ bullpen in right-center field for his third postseason homer.
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Shohei Ohtani blasts a leadoff home run, giving Dodgers 1-0 lead over Mets
The likely NL MVP began the night 0 for 22 in the postseason when batting with nobody on base and 7 for 9 with two homers and eight RBIs when hitting with runners aboard.
It was the seventh leadoff homer in Dodgers postseason history and first in Ohtani’s career.. The 117.8 mph drive was the third-hardest-hit postseason home run since Statcast started tracking in 2015, after Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber in last year’s NLCS (119.7 mph) and the New York Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton in a 2020 AL Division Series (118.3 mph).
Quintana hadn’t allowed a home run in his previous eight starts since Aug. 20.
Mets star Francisco Lindor, who hit a leadoff homer in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, was unable to match Ohtani in the bottom of the first as he grounded out.
But the next New York batter, Mark Vientos, connected off Yoshinobu Yamamoto for his fourth homer of the playoffs to tie the score at 1.
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The Dodgers struck back in the top of the third, however, to retake the lead on singles from unlikely postseason heroes Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernandez. They never relinquished it out of that. Yamamoto worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the third, though the Mets did scrape a run across when Brandon Nimmo beat out what would have been an inning-ending double play. Nimmo was originally ruled out, but the call was overturned after a challenge from Mets manager Carlos Mendoza.
Betts then helped the Dodgers pad their lead with one of the best performances of his playoff career, smashing a two-run double in the fifth inning and two-run home run in the seventh, both times after Ohtani was walked right before him. Ohtani drew three consecutive walks after his home run and scored each time.
Mookie Betts crushes a two-run homer, extending Dodgers’ lead over Mets
Also of note, Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy became the first player to reach base in 12 consecutive plate appearances during a single postseason.
Muncy had a single and three walks in his first four plate appearances in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets on Thursday night. The streak ended when he struck out against Danny Young in the eighth.
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Muncy’s streak included two singles, two homers and eight walks.
Watch PFL Battle of the Giants Friday morning weigh-in video for the upcoming PFL pay-per-view card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In Saturday’s main event, Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira have to weigh no more than 265 pounds for the heavyweight title bout. Ngannou makes his PFL debut at the event.
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