The four-fight all-lightweight affair goes down Friday night in Orlando, Florida, with a spot in the PFL’s regular season potentially up for grabs. Among the fighters in action, Canadian standout Anthony “The Genius” Romero and returning, undefeated PFL alum Elvin Espinoza will take part.

It was Damir Ferhatbegovic who came in heavy at Thursday’s official weigh-in, however. “The Bosnian Barn Cat” hit the scales at 157.2 pounds for his lightweight scrap with Espinoza. That fight now moves forward at a catchweight of 158 pounds.

All other fighters made weight for the event, which airs live from Universal Studios in Orlando. The PFL Challenger Series 2023 Week 4 card is available to stream live on Fubo Sports Network starting at 9PM ET on Friday, February 17, 2023.

Espinoza vs. Ferhatbegovic serves as the main event of the evening, with Espinoza putting his perfect 7-0 record on the line in the bout. For his part, Ferhatbegovic is undefeated in his last four contests, posting a 3-0-1 record. He last competed in MMA as part of last year’s PFL Challenger Series.

PFL Challenger Series 2023 Week 4 Weigh-In Results

Elvin Espinoza (156.0 lbs)  vs. Damir Ferhatbegovic (157.2 lbs)
Manoel Sousa (154.8 lbs)  vs. Paulo Laia (155.4 lbs)
Antonio Caruso (155.0 lbs) vs. Anthony Romero (156.0 lbs)
Charlie Decca (155.8 lbs) vs. Jose Aguayo (155.0 lbs)

The post PFL Challenger Series 2023 Week 4 Weigh-In Sees One Fighter Miss Weight appeared first on Cageside Press.

On Tuesday, promotion officials announced the full line-up for their PFL Challenger Series 5 card on March 18. The event has been built around the lightweight division, which recently saw the addition of former UFC star Jeremy Stephens.

Airing on Fubo TV, PFL Challenger Series 5 will consist of the following match-ups:

• Bruno Miranda vs. Carson Frei
• Damir Ferhatbegovic vs. BJ Bland
• Michael Dufort vs. Arut Pogosian
• Yanal Ashmoz vs. Dennis Hughes

Miranda (13-3) will ride a four-fight win streak into the PFL cage when he faces Frei (9-4). The Brazilian was a regular in South Korea’s ROAD FC, but has not competed since 2019. Frei most recently competed as a featherweight, under the Fierce FC banner last year. An April win over Westin Wilson marked his first fight since 2019.

Bosnian Damir Ferhatbegovic (5-2-1) is the Valor FC lightweight champion, who has previously fought for Bellator MMA as well. Ferhatbegovic shared the cage early in his career with UFC alum Luis Pena, a.k.a. “Violent Bob Ross,” and has not lost a fight in his last four appearances. Opponent BJ Bland (16-10), meanwhile, has a fair bit more experience, despite his uneven record. He trains alongside Israel Adesanya at City Kickboxing.

Michael Dufort (8-4) may be best known as a training partner of UFC alum Olivier Aubin-Mercier. The Canadian will look to make a name for himself against Armenian Arut Pogosian (9-3). And Israeli Yanal Ashmoz (6-0) will put his perfect record on the line against Dennis Hughes (7-3), who has won three straight.

PFL Challenger Series 5 takes place on March 18, 2022 at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The card airs live on Fubo Sports Network.

The post Lightweight Match-Ups Announced for PFL Challenger Series 5 on March 18 appeared first on Cageside Press.