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The Professional Fighters League playoffs are set to commence on Aug. 5 in New York City with semifinals in the light heavyweight and men’s lightweight divisions. From there, the playoffs will visit Cardiff, Wales, on Aug. 13 (featuring heavyweights and welterweights) and London on Aug. 20 (featherweights, women’s lightweights) before wrapping up 2022 with a night of six championship bouts in November at a location to be determined.
It has been an interesting year in the PFL. Several of the promotion’s top names have suffered upsets but still squeaked into the playoffs. Plenty of former champs are scattered among the playoff contenders in the six weight classes, and a few playoff first-timers are included as well.
Who is the fighter to beat in each division? And who is a wild card to keep an eye on? Here’s my view headed into the postseason.
Heavyweight
Favorite: Bruno Cappelozza
Despite coming off a massive upset loss in his final regular-season appearance — which left him as the division’s No. 4 seed — Cappelozza is still the man to beat In this weight class. He won it all in 2021 and has the skill set and finishing prowess to do it again.
His loss to Matheus Scheffel on June 24 was a shock. There’s no other way to say it — and it shouldn’t be brushed under the rug. The Cappelozza we’d grown accustomed to seeing in recent years would have found a way to turn that fight around, but on this night, Cappelozza just … couldn’t.
As a result, he seems much more human going into the playoffs, but perhaps that just means he’s had the benefit of a reality check before the fights that matter most.
Wild card: Ante Delija
There were a couple of fighters I could have chosen with this pick, but at the end of the day, I feel like Delija is the most overlooked of the four heavyweights. He’ll face Renan Ferreira in the semifinals, and Ferreira, despite coming off a loss, has some hype behind him. There’s also Denis Goltsov, the No. 1 seed, but I will say Goltsov might have had the…
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Source : espn
