Bruno Cappelozza, the PFL’s 2021 heavyweight champion, has been forced out of his semifinal fight with Denis Goltsov next month.
League officials announced the news in a press release distributed Thursday. Stepping in for Cappelozza will be Matheus Scheffel. He’ll face Goltsov at PFL 8 in Cardiff, Wales on August 13, 2022.
After losing his first fight of the PFL 2022 season, which happened to be his promotional debut, Scheffel (16-8) stormed back in his next outing. That fight saw him secure a unanimous decision against Cappelozza himself — though the three points earned for going the distance and winning wasn’t enough to make the post-season.
With Cappelozza out, however, Scheffel now has another shot at earning the $1 million dollars in prize money.
Goltsov (29-7) has made the post-season on three consecutive occasions, in 2019, 2021, and now 2022 (the PFL’s 2020 season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic).
The full PFL 8 card, which features three other semifinal match-ups in the heavyweight and welterweight divisions, currently breaks down as follows:
- Rory MacDonald vs. Magomed Umalatov – welterweight semifinal
- Ante Delija vs. Renan Ferreira – heavyweight semifinal
- Denis Goltsov vs. Matheus Scheffel – welterweight semifinal
- Sadibou Sy vs. Carlos Leal – heavyweight semifinal
- Will Fleury vs. Anthony Salamone
- Nate Kelly vs. Ben Ellis
- Vojto Barborik vs. Maxim Radu
- Moktar Benkaci vs. Francesco Nuzzi
- Joshua O’Connor vs. Emran Sakhizada
- Mohammad Fakhreddine vs. Marcin Wojcik
- Chris Mixan vs. Christian Stigenberg
- Hatef Moeil vs. Szymon Bajor
