Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted February 8, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 8, 2022 Yeah never would’ve thought of Channel 4 as the destination for this. Great news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 17, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted February 17, 2022 (edited) PFL Challenger Series starts tomorrow. They've taken the Dana White's Contender Series format. 8 weeks, 4 fights a week involving one specific division with the aim of landing a spot in the official tournament in April. Pretty cool idea. I wont see all of these but they'll be short and sharp so i'll catch a few. Not sure if tomorrow's show is actually on Channel 4 but it is streaming for free on the Channel 4 Sports Youtube channel, here's a link: Â Edited February 17, 2022 by Egg Shen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 19, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted February 19, 2022 "short and sharp" I said. All reports on this is that it was a slog. 4 fights stretched over 3 hours, with panels, fan voting and all sorted of pacing issues. Just sounds like they over complicated a really simple idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 26, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted February 26, 2022 errr this happened at the PFL Challengers show last night: fucking hell  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 8, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 8, 2022 Kayla is staying with the PFL: Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 8, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 8, 2022 Makes sense. It’s shit we won’t see her against Pena, Nunes or Cyborg but if she’s gonna keep winning these tournament in PFL and they’re gonna pay her a million dollars a time she’d be mad to sign with UFC or Bellator and make harder weight cuts to face tougher competition and probably make a fair bit less money. Can’t blame her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted March 8, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 8, 2022 Odd thing, though, is that she apparently said in interview that she aims to be seen as the greatest WMMA fighter of all time. Fair fucks, but you're not going to achieve that as a big fish in a small pond. If she'd signed for one more year with the PFL, that might make sense, but a multi-year deal? Only thing I can think is that she's looking to improve the offer of money and opportunity she'll get from the UFC by getting paid proper in the PFL while also padding out her record a bit, so that she doesn't end up waiting around in the midcard, shut out from the revolving title scene, like so many other fighters who should've got shots long ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted March 8, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 8, 2022 Get the bag while you can. She's only 31 so I'm guessing she favours the financial security now and hopes to get in with some big names down the line. Can't fault her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted March 8, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 8, 2022 5 minutes ago, Silky Kisser said: Get the bag while you can. She's only 31 so I'm guessing she favours the financial security now and hopes to get in with some big names down the line. Can't fault her. Absolutely. Although it is crazy (and probably a bit damning) that the biggest promotion in the world should be considered less financially secure, that it's wise for her to build up a financial base in the minor leagues before going to the UFC - it's supposed to be the other way round; indeed, that's half the point of going there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 9, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 9, 2022 It is, but there's no real division for her to go into at the UFC. Amanda Nunes losing probably halted a lot of the talks, and i'd imagine theres a good chance than Nunes hangs them up after the second Pena fight, so there's no one there to fight. If Kayla Harrison was a 135lb'er i'd have no doubt she'd be in the UFC. PFL are launching a PPV Superfight Series which it says Kayla will be a part of as well as the standard tournament. Quite interested to see what they do there, the wording sounds like the shows will be trying to do cross-promotional fights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted March 9, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 9, 2022 I got round to watching the first week of the Challenger series yesterday, just the matches - not enough time to dedicate to watching all the bumph around it. Apart from the first match, some decent fights. Nothing amazing, but entertaining. Having not watched many "minor league" fights in the past (with the greatest of respect to PFL, let's face it - they're nowhere near the UFC), I didn't appreciate just how visible the gap in skills would be - the first fight in particular showed a fair bit of that. I'm not some aficionado of the sport, but even I can tell guys like Amos or Karl Williams would be punished in the UFC with the kind of grappling they showed there. That said, thoroughly enjoyed the three following fights. Highlight had to be Souto finishing Davis in what was a nice bit of back-and-forth; really had no idea who was going to win, as Souto was getting through with a lot of his leg kicks, while Davis rocked him with some meaty punches. Poppeck/Johnson wasn't amazing, but was definitely a fight of two halves. Poppeck, the mean-looking Drago-like German, was looking tasty in the first half, commanding the striking quite well, and it seemed like he wasn't sweating Johnson's wrestling, which seemed a bit ineffectual at the beginning. This is, obviously, where I'm still a novice in understanding MMA, because, in the later rounds, Johnson's wrestling was clearly taking it out of Poppeck, and it left Poppeck open to getting rocked quite badly in the striking - Johnson certainly has a bit of a dig on him, even if the technique's a bit sloppy. Silveira/Juma was fun, but not for technique (although Silveira was showcasing some decent skills). Juma's clearly a slugger with some serious power behind him, but he's also really limited and sloppy - however, the real entertainment factor was Juma heeling it up; there were a couple of dodgy groin shots that could've been explained away as accidents, but he actually got caught fish-hooking Silveira, and the commentators made the point that he'd been DQed in his previous fight for doing the same. Obviously unsporting behaviour, and wouldn't condone it, but the guy's from South Sudan, and with his record (8-3 now), he's clearly either cannon fodder or not long for this career - victory for him means something very different to what it means for an American. Overall, a fun bit of programming, and, as it's free on YouTube, I might as well catch up with the next couple of instalments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 20, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 20, 2022 The proper PFL Seasons starts tonight, and i'm up for it! Looking at the roster and shows now, I think the PFL has slowly built a good roster. Its a good combination of fighters who have made their name in the promotions, prospects, veterans and in a few cases fighters who have gone there in their primes Main card air on Wednesday nights on Channel 4, 2 hour main cards so with the aid of the fast forward button you could get through it in an hour. Thats my plan with tea on a Thursday evening. Prelims are on the Channel Sport Youtube Channel. Here's show one, this is looking solid to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted April 20, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted April 20, 2022 I'm guessing that odd flag Akhmedov has on that listing is their way of saying he's not competing as a Russian under their banner? Good to see Shoeface again. Intrigued by Powell - undefeated professionally, and only one defeat in the amateurs, his debut. Looking forward to seeing how he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Kid Mark Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 Thanks for the heads up, I have set the recording for this. This has received little to no promotion, I give it 3 months before Channel 4 lose interest and start airing in on a different channel and even on a tape delay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 21, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 21, 2022 Probably, these things never seem to last, doesn't help that the events are on at 2am either. The whole thing is on the youtube channel too, prelims and main card, here's the link:  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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