PFL Battle Of The Giants Results: Ngannou Vs. Ferreira Fight Card

3 hours ago

Forbes

Cameroon's Francis Ngannou (L) and Brazil's Renan Ferreira stare each other down during a weigh-in ... [+] in Riyadh on October 18, 2024, ahead of tomorrow's PFL Super Fight "Battle of the Giants's" mixed martial arts bout. (Photo by Fayez NURELDINE / AFP) (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is in Saudi Arabia for today’s PFL: Battle of the Giants Super Fights card. In the main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou faces PFL heavyweight tournament winner Renan Ferreira. Meanwhile, in the PFL co-main event, Bellator women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg meets two-time PFL tournament winner Larissa Pacheco at 145 pounds. PFL Super Fights titles are on the line for each contest.

Today’s PFL fight card takes place at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The main card of the event airs on ESPN+ PPV at 4:00 p.m. ET following prelims on ESPN+ at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Ngannou (17-3) has not fought inside the cage since he scored a unanimous decision over Ciryl Gane in January 2022. Ngannou departed the UFC as the reigning champion after he and the promotion could not come to terms on a contract.

At the time, Ngannou said, “In that contract, I'm not free. In that contract, I'm not an independent contractor. In that contract, I have no rights, I have no power. I hand over all the power to you guys, and I've seen in the past how you can utilize that power."

During his time with the UFC, Ngannou went 12-2 with two winning streaks of six fights that were interrupted by decision setbacks to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis.

Ngannou signed with the PFL in May 2023. Since then, he has had two lucrative boxing bouts, losing a decision to Tyson Fury in October 2023 and getting knocked out by Anthony Joshua in March of this year.

Ferreira (13-3-0-3) is enjoying the best run of his MMA career. In November 2023 he earned $1 million for winning the PFL heavyweight tournament with a knockout win over Denis Goltsov. Then, in February, he scored a 21-second knockout win over Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader to win the "PFL Champion vs. Bellator Champion" Super Belt.

Cyborg (27-2-0-1) has not lost since she dropped the UFC featherweight title to Amanda Nunes in December 2018. The 39-year-old has won seven straight since then, with five of those bouts ending via stoppage. Cyborg last fought in October 2023 when she picked up a TKO over Cat Zingano in defense of her Bellator title. Twenty-two of Cyborg’s wins have been stoppages, giving her an 81 percent finish rate.

Pacheco (23-4) is unbeaten since she dropped a decision to highly-ranked UFC fighter Kayla Harrison in the finals of the 2019 PFL lightweight tournament. The 30-year-old is 10-0 since that setback with two PFL tournament titles. One of those tournament wins came in 2022 when she defeated Harrison. Pacheco has seven knockouts during her 10-fight winning streak. Nineteen of the 30-year-olds wins are stoppages. Pacheco has an 83 percent finish rate. Pacheco last fought in November 2023 when she beat Marina Mokhnatkina to win her second PFL tournament.

PFL Battle of the Giants Winners PFL Battle of the Giants Losers PFL Battle of the Giants Fight Card PFL Battle of the Giants PPV Card

Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira

Cris Cyborg vs. Larissa Pacheco

Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards

Husein Kadimagomaev vs. Zafar Mohsen

A. J. McKee vs. Paul Hughes

Prelims

Raufeon Stots vs. Marcos Breno

Dedrek Sanders vs. Makkasharip Zaynukov

Ibragim Ibragimov vs. Nacho Campos

Mostafa Rashed Nada vs. Ahmed Sami

Youssef Al Housani vs. Taha Bendaoud