Latest news with #PFLWelterweightWorldTournament
USA Today
02-08-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
2025 PFL World Tournament 8 results: Thad Jean masterclasses Logan Storley in tournament final
Thad Jean is the 2025 PFL Welterweight World Tournament winner – and he might be soon one of the promotion's biggest stars. Over the course of five rounds, Jean (11-0) largely had his way with former Bellator interim champion Logan Storley (18-3) en route to a unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47) victory. The bout headlined Saturday's 2025 PFL World Tournament 8 at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. The opening round was all Jean, as he showed off not only striking prowess and poise but some grappling skills as well. Despite Storley's wrestling notoriety, Jean mounted him in the opening 90 seconds. Storley worked his way up and out of danger – at least, momentarily. Jean pummeled Storley in Round 2 after a front kick to the face. With referee Gary Copeland practically breathing on the fighters, the fight was close to being stopped. But Storley hung tough and did just enough to evade. While Storley's cardio maintained, he was unable to generate offense like Jean. Jean utilized both technique and flashiness to pick apart Storley for the remainder of the fight. With the victory, Jean earns $500,000 and is named the 2025 welterweight tournament winner. Jean, 27, is one of the promotion's top homegrown talents to date. He came through the PFL Challenger Series at 4-0. He competed on PFL undercards until 8-0, when he was a late replacement to the 2025 tournament bracket. He defeated Mukhamed Berkhamov and Jason Jackson in the first two rounds of the tournament to set up the Storley fight in the final. Storley, 32, was imported into PFL after the promotion's merger with Bellator. He went 1-1 in the 2024 season format but didn't qualify for the playoffs. In 2025, he defeated Joseph Luciano and Masayuki Kikuiri en route to the fight vs. Jean. The full 2025 PFL 8 results include:
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Main event announced for PFL World Tournament in Nashville
MMA returns to Nashville this summer as PFL hosts its World Tournament semifinals on June 12 at Municipal Auditorium. Headlining this summer's card is former Bellator world champion Jason Jackson (18-5) taking on the unbeaten Thad Jean (9-0) in a welterweight semifinal, PFL confirmed on Wednesday. Jackson, who was formerly featured on The Ultimate Fighter, won the Bellator welterweight world championship in 2023 and joined the PFL Welterweight World Tournament earlier this year, picking up a second-round technical submission win over Andrey Koreshkov on April 3. Jean also picked up a victory on the same card, knocking out Mukhamed Berkhamov in the first round. More: Next Caleb Plant fight on same card as Jermall Charlo in May | Report The co-main event will see a rubber match between Peru's Jesus Pinedo (24-6), the 2023 PFL featherweight champion, and Gabriel Braga (16-2) in a featherweight semifinal. Pinedo made his PFL debut against Braga in 2023, suffering a split decision loss, before rematching him later that year in the PFL Featherweight Championship and scoring a third-round stoppage to win the belt. The remainder of the card sees former Bellator champion Logan Storley (17-3) in a welterweight semifinal bout against Masayuki Kikuiri (11-2-1) of Japan, as well as unbeaten 2021 PFL Featherweight Champion Movlid Khaybulaev (22-0-1) returning to face Taekyun Kim (11-1). Tickets for the 2025 PFL World Tournament 5: Semifinals in Nashville begin at $35 are available through Ticketmaster. The PFL World Tournament will stream live on ESPN platforms in the United States. This summer's fight card comes after Nashville previously hosted PFL 7 last August, with the success of the event leading the organization to return to Music City. The PFL World Tournament is an annual single-elimination tournament held across seven weight classes: heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight. The tournament spans over five months with fighters looking to win three straight fights to become PFL Tournament Champion. Each winner will receive a $500,000 bonus while a total of $20 million will be paid out during the tournament. Ahead of Nashville's semifinals, PFL will host three first-round events at Universal Studios in Orlando. Harrison Campbell covers combat sports for The Tennessean and high school sports for The Daily Herald. Email him at hcampbell@ and follow him on Twitter @hccamp. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: PFL World Tournament main event announced for Nashville fight card
