Chicago, IL — Murad Ramazanov joins the Professional Fighters League after a stint in ONE Championship, and makes his debut this Friday at the PFL 3 card in Chicago.
The undefeated Russian is 11-0 in his pro career with a single No Contest due to an accidental groin strike landed on ex-KSW champ Roberto Soldic. That came in December of 2022, and Ramazanov has not fought since despite being on the verge of a title shot in ONE.
Why the switch? As Ramazanov explained to Cageside Press and other media outlets during this week’s PFL 3 media day, “with ONE, unfortunately I wasn’t getting as many fights. There were periods when I would not have many fights, and I like to stay busy.”
Training alongside teammates at the late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s camp, there always seemed to be people who needed to train or had fights coming up, “and I liked seeing other people staying busy,” continued Ramazanov. “And I figured out the PFL format, the way it’s going, you have potentially four fights a year. This is a great opportunity for me.”
Not to mention, his contract with ONE Championship had come to an ended, he added. “My contract was already expired with ONE, so I decided to move on with the PFL, and hopefully stay busy here. I see the league is growing, and I’d like us to grow together. Another thing, I like the USADA testing, so I know that everybody’s clean and it puts everybody on the same— you don’t have to worry that somebody’s using some stuff, because you know that everybody’s going to be tested.”
The PFL brought in USADA, who formerly handled the UFC’s anti-doping program, last year, after a number of fighters failed drug tests during a three-event stint in Las Vegas.
When Murad Ramazanov makes his PFL debut this Friday, he’ll be doing so at welterweight, not middleweight where he competed in years prior.
“Previously when I would fight at middleweight, it was actually not the perfect weight for me, because I would be just walking at that,” explained Ramazanov. “So basically when I would get to training camp, I would eat pizza, then I’d get on the scale. I didn’t really do much weight cut.”
Fighting at welterweight, in comparison, “is perfect for me, because I’ll do some weight cut,” he added. “Before my opponents would be normally heavier than me in the cage. So now I’m going to do a weight cut, then we’re going to recover and then I’m going to be pretty much in the same category with the guys. I feel like this way I’m going to have more power potentially for knockouts; I might have more spectacular fights. We’ll see. I feel like this is the proper weight class for me.”
Watch the full PFL 3 media day appearance by Murad Ramazanov above.
