PFL light heavyweight Rob Wilkinson has won the PFL tournament before, and he’ll lean on that experience again when he starts this year’s run against Phil Davis on Thursday night.
Wilkinson (19-3) no longer has to deal with the season points format as PFL has adopted a strict tournament style. Still it’s not all shiny and new for the Aussie.
“I don’t think it’s completely new. I think it’s mainly with the tournament, or the season, it’s the back to back fighting. Getting your body and mind right for that,” Wilkinson told reporters including Cageside Press on Tuesday.
“Making sure you don’t burn out from training and that you can recover after each fight. Get ready for the next fight.”
PFL has also changed the controversial “no elbows” rule and fighters will now be able to strike with them. With a nickname like ‘Razor’ Wilkinson welcomes the change.
“It’s good that the PFL are doing elbows now. I’m not sure why they weren’t really. I always thought it was because they didn’t want cuts for back-to-back fights. We’re still fighting 8-weeks apart. I think it’s good,” he said.
This main event bout against Davis isn’t the first time Wilkinson is supposed to face him. Their previous fight was canceled due to Davis withdrawing from the bout. It’s made for a sort of extended fight camp for Wilkinson.
“I prepared last year of him. This camp’s a bit different. I moved back to Australia to do my camps now living back home,” he said.
“Excited to be back home training out of Australia for this one.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Rob Wilkinson above. He faces Phil Davis in the main event of PFL World Tournament Week 3 this Thursday night.
