The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is bringing its first-ever event to Africa earlier than initially announced.
The league confirmed on Tuesday that the event`s date has been moved from July 26th to July 19th.
Set to take place at the GrandWest Arena in Cape Town, South Africa, the event is actually a doubleheader. One portion is a PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai card, headlined by a middleweight title defense featuring champion Johnny Eblen against challenger Costello van Steenis.
The co-main event for the Champions Series card will see undefeated flyweight prospect Dakota Ditcheva face Sumiko Inaba.
The other part of the evening, officially designated PFL Africa 1, marks the beginning of the league`s Africa regional tournaments, featuring bouts in the heavyweight and bantamweight divisions. The initial fight lineup for this section is listed below:
PFL Africa 1 Tournament Bouts:
- Nkosi Ndebele vs. Mahmoud Atef — Bantamweight
- Maxwell Djantou Nana vs. Mikael Groguhe — Heavyweight
- Shannon Van Tonder vs. Boule Godogo — Bantamweight
- Jashell Ticha Awa vs. Justin Clarke — Heavyweight
- Antero Dos Santos vs. Karim Henniene — Bantamweight
- Abdoullah Kane vs. Mohammed Ben Yahia — Heavyweight
- Simbarashe Hokonya vs. Alain Majorique — Bantamweight
- Badredinne Medkouri vs. TBD — Heavyweight
- Juliet Ukah vs. TBD
Interestingly, this revised schedule places the PFL Africa event on the same night as UFC 318, which is headlined by a highly anticipated trilogy fight between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier, billed by some as potentially Poirier`s final career bout.
