Ahead of this Saturday’s PFL Chicago, there’s lots to talk about with bantamweight Raufeon Stots.
The former Bellator champ has been away from fighting since a split decision loss to Sergio Pettis, a longtime training partner, last summer. It seems there was never a plan to come back sooner, however, as Stots (21-3) told Cageside Press in a recent interview. With the changes to the PFL organizational structure over the past six months or so, instead, Stots turned his focus to a different pursuit: flipping houses.
“I started it, I pretty much just jumped straight in. I bought a house that was a good deal, I flipped that one, and then I finished that and bought another one and kind of did the same thing,” Stots explained ahead of his fight with Renat Khavalov at PFL Chicago. “It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do. I have a little alter ego, ‘Rauf the Builder’ that I like to do every now and then. I like doing stuff with my hands, so that’s like fun for me.”
There was no apprenticeship for Rauf the Builder. “I jumped in and I did it, I’m happy I did it,” continued Stots. “It’s something that I’ll use for extra income and financial stability later on. That’s something I did in my downtime. It actually was a lot of hard work and a lot of time for me, because I did all the work myself in the houses.”
Drywalling, tiling, plumbing — Stots got the full renovation experience. He plans to keep on going in the house flipping business, and has a rental property as well, but now it’s back to fighting, against a dangerous, unbeaten opponent out of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s camp in Khavalov.
The match-up is a step up for Khavalov, a perfect 11-0 in his career to date. “I looked at it like, he’s a guy that has passed every test, so he deserves a step up. I’m a guy that dropped his last decision against the number one contender, which I could have won. So I have to prove that I’m in the position that I am for a reason,” explained Stots when asked for his thoughts on the pairing.
“I think it’s a great match-up, I think he’s a tough character, I think he’s passed every test that he’s been given thus far, but I’m here to prove that I’m a tougher test than he’s been given. I feel that I’ve passed tougher tests. We get to see who’s deserving of this top ranking.”
The fact that Khavalov is a prodigy from Khabib’s camp, meanwhile, is something Stots called the “cherry on top.”
A win this Saturday at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago opens up all sorts of possibilities. Marcirley Alves, the PFL bantamweight World Tournament winner last year, was widely expected to fight for the promotion’s vacant 135lb title next. Instead, he’s got a date with Naoki Inoue in RIZIN next month, in a crossover fight.
“I think that opens, I mean the door’s wide open. It’s [the title] truly vacant if he’s doing stuff in a different organization,” suggested Stots.
Which means that, with a win, the #2-ranked Stots himself could end up competing for the belt. Whether it be against Alves, should he win, or in a rematch with Sergio Pettis, who faces Mitch McKee in the PFL Chicago main event. “I feel like the title is wide open. I think whatever the case, I’m in the position, I could fight for the title. It would be legitimate for me to fight for the title now. I could also see, obviously Sergio is the number one contender. Anything in that top five can happen, I feel like.”
“I could definitely see me fighting for the title as an option.”
Watch our full interview with PFL Chicago’s Raufeon Stots. The event takes place Saturday, April 11, 2026 at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, IL.
