The finals for all six PFL 2019 tournaments have been officially set for the promotion’s finale, which takes place on New Year’s Eve in New York City.
PFL 2019: Week 10 takes place on December 31 at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The event will air live on ESPN.
After going through the regular season and the quarterfinals and semifinals for all six weight classes, these are the 12 fighters left to compete for the $1 million grand prizes. All six tournament finals will be scheduled for five, five-minute rounds.
PFL 2019 Finals courtesy of Tapology.
Women’s lightweight division: Kayla Harrison vs. Larissa Pacheco
Harrison defeated Pacheco, Morgan Frier and Bobbi Jo Dalziel to advance to the finals. Pacheco, meanwhile, lost to Harrison but defeated Jo Dalziel and Sarah Kaufman to advance to the finals. Expect Harrison to be a heavy favorite to win this tournament.
Heavyweight division: Ali Isaev vs. Jared Rosholt
Isaev defeated Valdrin Istrefi, Carl Seumanutafa, Kelvin Tiller and Denis Goltsov to advance to the finals. Rosholt lost to Goltsov then defeated Satoshi Ishii, Muhammed Dereese and Tiller to advance to the finals. Isaev will be a heavy favorite to get his hand raised here.
Light heavyweight division: Emiliano Sordi vs. Jordan Johnson
Sordi defeated Vinny Magalhaes, Bozigit Ataev, Sigi Pesaleli and Ataev again to advance to the finals. Johnson lost to Maxim Grishin, defeated Pesaleli, advanced after a draw with Grishin and defeated Yusupov to make it to the finals. Johnson was at one point a top prospect in the UFC, but Sordi’s run in PFL has been fun to watch this season and he will be a heavy favorite to win this tournament.
Welterweight division: Ray Cooper III vs. David Michaud
Cooper defeated Zana Kamaka then lost to John Howard. He then advanced after a draw with Sadibou Sy and defeated Chris Curtis to advance to the finals. Michaud lost to Sy then defeated Handesson Ferreira, Howard and Glaico Franca to advance to the finals. Expect Cooper to be favored to win this tournament.
Lightweight division: Natan Schulte vs. Loik Radzhabov
Schulte defeated Yincang Bao, Jesse Ronson, Ramsey Nijem and Akhmet Aliev to advance to the finals. Radzhabov lost to Rashid Magomedov, defeated Ylies Djiroun, advanced after a draw with Islam Mamedov and defeated Chris Wade to advance to the finals. Schulte won last year’s lightweight tournament and should be favored to repeat once again.
Featherweight division: Lance Palmer vs. Daniel Pineda
Palmer defeated Alex Gilpin, Luis Rafael Laurentino, Alexandre de Almedia and Gilpin once again to advance to the finals. Pineda made it to the playoffs after other fighters fell out of the tournament and advanced to the finals with back-to-back upset stoppage wins over Movlid Khaybulaev and Jeremy Kennedy. Palmer won last year’s featherweight tournament and will be favored once again to repeat as champion.
Overall these look like some pretty solid fights to close out PFL’s second season. Will there be a third season next year? We’ll have to wait and find out.
Who are your picks to win the six PFL 2019 tournaments?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/1/2019.