Latest news with #ThadJean
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
USA Today
04-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
2025 PFL World Tournament 1 video: Thad Jean scores vicious knockout, hollers at Dakota Ditcheva
Thad Jean's post-fight callout was an unconventional one, to say the least. Jean (9-0), who came through the PFL challenger series in 2023, picked up a nasty finish at Thursday's 2025 PFL World Tournament 1 in Orlando, Fla. He dropped Mukhamed Berkhamov (17-3) with a crisp left hand, and then jumped on him with some vicious ground-and-pound to seal the deal at 4:25 of Round 1. After the finish, in his in-cage-post-fight interview, Jean had a message for 2024 PFL women's flyweight champion Dakota Ditcheva. 'By the way, where's Dakota Ditcheva?' Jean said. 'Why is she not here? No, never mind, don't say nothing. I want to see you June 12, Nashville. I'm not saying anything, though, come.' STATEMENT. MADE. 🦍🔥 Thad Jean brought the VIOLENCE to ORLANDO!#PFLWorldTournament Main Card 10pm ET on ESPN2 & ESPN+ — PFL (@PFLMMA) April 4, 2025 Interesting callout aside, Jean continues to build momentum, still undefeated in MMA and adding his fifth career finish by TKO/KO. Jean, who trains out of Fight Sports Deerfield Beach in Florida, is now slatted to take on the winner of the 2025 PFL World Tournament 1 main event between Andrey Koreshkov and Jason Jackson. Gallery 2025 PFL World Tournament 1: Best photos from Orlando View 21 photos For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for 2025 PFL World Tournament 1.
