Fort Lauderdale, FL — PFL lightweight finalist Loik Radzhabov is feeling much better heading into Wednesday’s World Championship fight than he was in his last bout, he revealed this week.
Radzhabov (15-3-1) is lined up with Raush Manfio, and admitted at Monday’s PFL 2021 World Championship media day that “I’ll be honest, the last fight, I didn’t feel my best. The way I approached it, I was not fully happy with myself.”
“This time I’m fully ready,” Radzhabov continued. Unlike the feeling ahead of his fight with Alex Martinez over the summer, “I’m happy with the preparations, with the camp, everything was going great, I feel in great shape right now, and I’m really looking forward to Wednesday. I hope to have a very spectacular fight.”
Like many, Radzhabov wasn’t familiar with Manfio prior to this PFL season. Manfio stepped in a a short-notice replacement, earning wins over former UFC champ Anthony Pettis, and former UFC fighter/boxer Clay Collard.
“I don’t know much of him, well I didn’t know much of him before,” Radzhabov said when asked about his foe. “I know he had the same amount of fights that I did. The fight he had with the Brazilian opponent [Joilton Lutterbach], I think he lost that to be honest, but the judges made the decision for whatever reason this way.”
Once Radzhabov knew that Manfio was set as his opponent, he went back and watched more of his upcoming opponent’s fights. “I see shortcomings in his game,” Radzhabov stated. “There are certain things I think he’s not doing great on, and I’m going to take advantage of that.”
Watch the full PFL 2021 World Championship media day appearance from Loik Radzhabov above. More coverage can be found below. The event takes place this Wednesday, October 27, 2021, in Hollywood, FL.
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