Fight Facts: PFL 2025 World Tournament 1

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 FIGHTS: 1,225
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 129

The Professional Fighters League decided that with the new year should come some fairly substantial changes. Gone are the points-based playoff structure, and in its place will be eight single-elimination tournaments. Two of those eight divisions—featherweight and welterweight—took their turns to reach the semifinals, with fairly interesting results that immediately justified the grand prix switcheroo. PFL 2025 1 featured a double dose of sleeping subs, a reclaim throne for the winningest fighter without a defeat and a rare athlete calling it quits mid-fight.

Answer to a Trivia Question: For the entirety of the first round of the tourney, PFL will be posting up inside of the Universal Studios in Orlando. Currently, PFL 2025 1 serves as the 17th event the promotion has run in this city, making it the most for any one location.

Sleep Study Office: Five past events had featured multiple technical submissions, with PFL 2019 8 seeing a record three across the evening. The two performed by Jason Jackson and Tae Kyun Kim make this fight card the sixth to have more than one fighter slept with a sub.

He Looks Like a Jackson: Former Bellator MMA champ Jackson picked up his first submission win in over five years when he choked Andrey Koreshkov out. None of his past subs were of the technical variety.

Out on His Shield Again: Koreshkov has only been submitted twice as a professional. The first came in his rubber match with Douglas Lima, where he was also put to sleep with a rear-naked choke.

It’s the Stoppage That Counts: Punching out Adam Borics to advance to the featherweight semis, Jesus Pinedo notched his 15th overall knockout. His stoppage rate rose to 79% with the win, with each of his last eight victories coming via strikes.

Slow, Rumbling Storm: For his last nine outings dating back to 2019, Logan Storley has fought beyond the first round. Settling for a decision over Joseph Luciano, “Storm” is one decision triumph away from a 50% finish rate.

Fighters only get one shot! Watch the PFL World Tournament LIVE Friday, April 11 at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN2..

The Power of the -V: Picking up a hard-fought decision, Dagestan’s Movlid Khaybulaev reclaimed the top spot in the sport for the highest win total without ever suffering a loss. His 22 victories, one draw and one no contest hold the line against 19-0 and 18-0 talents like Usman Nurmagomedov, Movsar Evloev, Shavkat Rakhmonov, Timur Khisriev and Shamil Musaev.

A Gaethje Type: After his win at the hands of the judges over Jeremy Kennedy, Khaybulaev ties three other combatants who have all competed at least 10 times under the company banner without losing.

Gorilla Smashed: “Silverback” Thad Jean has now claimed two-thirds of his professional wins inside the distance following his knockout of Mukhamed Berkhamov. Jean kept his spotless record intact with the strike stoppage.

Crack the Neck: Towards the end of the opening frame, Gabriel Braga wrangled Frederick Dupras with a neck crank. His is the fifth neck crank in organizational history, and four of those five have now come in the featherweight division.

No Mas Masa: Masayuki Kikuiri made the most of his company debut by forcing Giannis Bachar to quit on the stool after Round 2. The Japanese athlete is the fifth in the history of the company to force a foe to retire mid-fight, and the second in 2025—Ahmed Sami made Tarek Suleiman abandon ship after five minutes of combat at Road to Dubai’s show in January.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into PFL 2025 1, Borics had never been knocked out (21 fights), Braga had never prevailed by submission (15 wins) and Dupras had never been submitted (nine fights).