The Professional Fighters League has finished off assembling its roster for the 2021 season. Among the final names announced for the PFL’s upcoming regular season: Gleison Tibau, Kaitlin Young, and Chris Wade.
PFL officials announced the news in a press release Thursday. In addition, the promotion confirmed that it had signed Taylor Guardado, Nick Roehrick, Alexei Kunchenko, Anthony Dizy and Jason Ponet. The eight fighters listed cap off the PFL roster at 60 fighters across six divisions, all competing for one million dollars (per division) at the end of the playoffs.
Tibau (35-14) should be no stranger to UFC fans, having competed inside the octagon from UFC 65 in 2006, all the way until 2018. After spending the bulk of his career working for Dana White and co., Tibau tested the free agent waters following a three-fight skid in 2018. He went on to win two bouts outside the UFC, one at the infamous Golden Boy MMA Production featuring Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. Tibau has won his last two fights, and will compete in the PFL’s welterweight division, alongside the recently signed Alexei Kunchenko (20-2), who exited the UFC last year after posting a 2-2 record.
Chris Wade (17-6), who previously fought in the PFL’s lightweight division, will drop to featherweight this year. Kaitlin Young (11-10-1), well known to fighting fans from Invicta FC and as a pioneer on the women’s side of the sport, joins the lightweight division along with Taylor Guardado (0-1).
Anthony Dizy (13-3) and Jason Ponet (20-12-1) both hail from France, and have competed in the featherweight and lightweight divisions, respectively. Dizy was most recently fighting under the M-1 banner. Ponet will be moving up to welterweight.
Finally, Nick Roehrick (9-1) will join the promotion’s light heavyweight ranks after winning his last two bouts. The 33-year old from Florida had a single UFC bout in 2017, at the Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale, where he lost to current middleweight contender Jared Cannonier.
The PFL’s 2021 season kicks off on April 23 on ESPN2/ESPN+.
