Fight Facts: PFL 2025 World Tournament 5
Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.
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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 135
The Professional Fighters League set the stage for the finals in the featherweight and welterweight divisions. With the victors expected to square off in August, excitement is high for some of the pairings. Wrestling was the name of the game at PFL 2025 World Tournament 5, which featured one of the biggest betting favorites in all of MMA, the fighter with the best record in the sport adding one more W to the pile and a rubber match that ended about as violently as one could.
Regional Rivals: On two occasions, the camps of
Fight Sports Deerfield Beach and Kill Cliff FC faced off with
representatives against one another. The Fight Sports athletes of
Thad
Jean and Kendly St.
Louis both pulled off upsets.
Hey Jean: Jean advanced his unbeaten record to 10-0 by taking a split verdict over Jason Jackson. All of his finishes have still come within two rounds.
The Rubber Met the Road: Getting the better of Gabriel Braga in their rubber match, Jesus Pinedo left no doubt by punching out the Brazilian in the opening frame. Equipped with a finish rate of 80%, “El Mudo” advanced to featherweight finals to face Movlid Khaybulaev in August.
His Numero: In 2023, Pinedo and Braga squared off twice, with Pinedo earning the third-round knockout in the finals to exact revenge. The only fighter to ever knock out Braga remains Pinedo, who has now done so twice.
Storley Beat Buckley a Few Years Ago: Wrestling his way to the finals at 170 pounds, Logan Storley saw his finish rate tumble to a flat 50% by outworking Masayuki Kikuiri. Dating back to 2020, “Storm” has notched a single finish, a knockout of Brennan Ward in 2023.
He Likes to Movlid Movlid: Upgrading his undefeated record to 23-0 with a draw and a no contest, Khaybulaev did enough to get past Tae Kyun Kim on the scorecards. The Dagestan native still hoists the best lossless record of any active fighter in a major promotion today.
Changed Reputation: “The Kid” Adam Borics snuck past Jeremy Kennedy via majority decision to improve his standing as the featherweight alternate. While heralded for his high-flying attacks, the Hungarian has not finished an opponent since knocking out Pat Curran at Bellator 226 in 2019.
Culling Ivy: Magomed Umalatov bounced back in a big way by crushing Anthony Ivy in half a round, after suffering the first loss of his career. Fourteen of the Russian’s 18 pro victories have come inside the distance.
Water We Dune Hair, B: When Ivy missed weight by 5.4 pounds, Umalatov inflated to an unprecedented -6600 betting favorite. This surpasses the fourth times where a PFL fighter closed with odds at -5000, the previous high. All five of those favored combatants won by first-round stoppage.
Not Spock’s Dad: By winning a decision over Joseph Luciano, Sarek Shields has developed a pattern of victory since turning pro in 2021. He started off with a decision win, and then four fights later did so again. Once more, after three stoppages, Shields went back to winning at the hands of the judges.
There Can Be Only One: Landing a late rear-naked choke on Mukhamed Berkhamov, St. Louis emerged victorious as the heavy underdog and improved his win streak to eight straight. Before this run, “The Highlander” had only compiled a single two-fight winning stretch.
A Russian in King Elvis’ Court: Nashville, Tennessee, native Alexei Pergande made his professional debut with the PFL in 2022 as part of the Challenger Series. Known as “Russian DNA,” Pergande has won all six pro outings after his decision victory over Mike Bardsley, all of them coming in the bounds of the PFL cage.
Quit Barking: In his first two fights, Jason Danner combined for under three minutes of combat time as he notched two knockouts. Against Nathan Gilmore, “Raw Dawg” quintupled that amount of experience by needing all 15 minutes to prevail.
Never Say Never Again: Coming into PFL 2025 5, Luciano had never dropped consecutive bouts (12 fights), Berkhamov had never been submitted (19 fights) and Bardsley had never lost on the scorecards (six fights).
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