Nashville, TN — PFL Nashville is in the books, with the card representing the first of the World Tournament Semifinals, with featherweights and welterweights in action.
The night’s main event saw Thad Jean earn a split decision win over former Bellator champ Jason Jackson, which has landed him in a finale against another Bellator alum, Logan Storley. Given the nature of the result, there was plenty of talk after the fight, but the PFL’s Jonathan Coachman, who fielded questions after the event, wasn’t surprised with the scorecards.
“I really didn’t know how the judges were going to score the takedowns. And Thad Jean was just on with the guys, and I thought it was a good quote, he said ‘what’s a takedown without damage?'”
Speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press following the show, Coachman added that “I think kind of the new rules in MMA are, if you get taken down and you get right back up and you don’t take any damage, you don’t get any credit for that. So I think because of those, the one 30-27 is probably why that was that. Split decision is probably the right call, because you probably have it different than me, than her. I have no issues with it whatsoever.”
Coachman was less enthused when asked about Francis Ngannou’s situation of late, which has him petitioning for a fight with UFC heavyweight champ Jon Jones. While some have looked at that as a possible co-promotion, it’s been well established that the UFC isn’t interested in working with other companies. Ngannou has fought just once for the PFL since signing with them in 2023, while he’s boxed twice. Outside of the cage, “The Predator” has had to contend with the death of his son, and a recent fatal car crash; he’s yet to have a second PFL fight announced. Nor has he been particularly involved with the promotion of PFL Africa thus far; instead, he was most recently seen during this week’s UFC Atlanta, in town to support Kamaru Usman.
Making things clearer, or perhaps more murky, Ngannou’s coach Eric Nicksick recently suggested he’d like to see Ngannou go back to the UFC. “I think enough time has passed. I would love to see somehow, some way that they can mend these fences and get back in competing in the UFC,” Nicksick said in an interview with Home of Fight. “I think this is more about business than it is about ego. At least it is from Francis’ side.”
Asked about Ngannou’s team perhaps signaling a move back to the UFC, and whether the PFL had a a statement, Coachman shut the question down.
“No we don’t [have a statement], and I actually hadn’t even heard that. That’s not something we’re going to address tonight, we had a big night tonight and that’s certainly not something I would ever address right now. So no.”
At some point, however, the PFL are going to have to address the fact that the man behind their biggest star is talking about him returning to the UFC, while still under contract with a rival organization.
Watch the full PFL Nashville post-fight press conference with Jonathan Coachman above.
