The main event will transform one of the most decorated champions in sports into a fresh-faced neophyte.
Claressa Shields, the undefeated two-division boxing champion, will make her mixed martial arts debut in the PFL main event on Thursday in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
But Shields' lightweight bout against Brittney Elkin is essentially a bonus draw on a night when the PFL's featherweights and men's lightweights try to secure spots in the playoffs. Four fighters in each division will qualify and get to continue on a journey that will culminate on New Year's Eve with champions crowned in six divisions, each winning $1 million prizes.
Among those fighters competing for their 2021 PFL futures are back-to-back lightweight champion Natan Schulte, undefeated 155-pounder Alexander Martinez, and a couple of fighters coming off eye-opening upset wins in lightweight Clay Collard (beat former UFC champ Anthony Pettis) and featherweight Bubba Jenkins (beat two-season champ Lance Palmer).
Follow along throughout the night as Jeff Wagenheim breaks down the action, fight by fight.
Lightweights: Natan Schulte (3 points) def. Alexander Martinez (3 points) by split decision
It's no wonder the judges were split on this one. Schulte scored nine takedowns, but did little after each time he brought the fight to the canvas. Martinez landed more strikes, and better strikes, and hurt his opponent with one low leg kick -- but he kept getting taken to the canvas.
The bottom line: Schulte, the champion in both of the PFL's two previous seasons, needed a finish to secure a playoff berth after dropping his season opener, and did not get it. Martinez, while getting the better of much of the action, suffered the first loss of his career.
All three judges scored the bout 29-28, with two of them going for Schulte.
Schulte (21-4-1), who is 29 and from Brazil, went undefeated in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons. But after going the distance in this bout, he lost control of his playoff future.
Martinez (8-1), a 27-year-old from Paraguay who fights out of Alberta, Canada, had to deal with a late change of opponents. He originally was slated to face former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, but Pettis was moved to the June 25 card. Instead, he got a two-time PFL champion who was a heavy betting favorite, and while he looked like a fighter with a strong future, taking Schulte to the limit, Thursday's fight didn't quite go his way.
Lightweights: Olivier Aubin-Mercier (2 points) def. Marcin Held (3 points)
Mercier, the 32-year-old from Montreal, hurt Held near the end of the first round, was on top late in Round 2 and landed some vicious uppercuts in the final round. But he couldn't finish Held, and had to settle for 3 points.
After coming into the fight with minus-1 point, because he was unable to compete in his season opener, Aubin-Mercier got the decision -- 30-27 on all three judges' cards -- but did not earn enough points to overcome the deduction and make the playoffs.
Nonetheless, Aubin-Mercier was emotional after the scores were announced, as he ended a three-fight losing streak dating back to his time in the UFC.
Aubin-Mercier landed again and again, often with damaging uppercuts, and he fended off Held's best offense. The 29-year-old from Poland is a leglock specialist, and twice in the final round he secured a leg. But Aubin-Mercier calmly worked his way free both times.
Held, who won his first regular season fight by decision, is also on the outside looking in on the men's lightweight playoff picture.
Lightweights: Loik Radzhabov (6 points) def. Akhmed Aliev (3 points) by TKO
It took Radzhabov only 27 seconds to get his first victory of the season. He did not celebrate.
He and Aliev are friends, and as the bout started they met at the center of the cage and shook hands. Then they stood at boxing range and threw light jabs at each other, and it looked like this bout might be a little too cordial.
But then Radzhabov unleashed a left hook followed by a straight right hand that wobbled his opponent, then landed several uppercuts that dropped Aliev, who immediately covered up. Radzhabov, who is 30 and from Tajikistan, swarmed with punches on his motionless opponent, and then paused to look up at Keith Peterson and implore the referee to end it. Peterson finally did jump in at 27 seconds, and Radzhabov immediately shifted from delivering punishment to checking to see if his friend was OK.
Radzhabov (14-3-1) then walked away with his hands on his head, clearly not in a mood to celebrate the fastest knockout in PFL lightweight history.
The 6 points were the first of the season for Radzhabov, who reached the PFL lightweight finals in 2019. Aliev (20-7) , a 31-year-old from Russia, came in with 3 points.
Featherweights: Sheymon Moraes (5 points) def. Jesse Stirn (0 points) by second-round kimura submission
All of a sudden, Moraes had urgency.
He had started the fight with a gift of 3 points after Stirn missed weight, and for much of the first two rounds of the fight, the 30-year-old Brazilian looked like he was willing to settle for that. Stirn took him down midway through the first round, and Moraes didn't do much to try to get off his back. When Moraes dropped Stirn early in Round 2, he didn't swarm to finish a compromised opponent and instead backed up to continue the standup fight.
This seemed like a curious approach for a fighter who had lost his season opener and needed every point he could get in his push to make the playoffs.
Then, suddenly, Moraes had 5 points. Taken down in the final seconds of the second round, he used a kimura to reverse position, flipped himself on top of Sitrn and then cranked the arm harder. Stirn tapped -- at 4:59.
"See you guys in the semifinals," Moraes (12-5) said after his first career submission. "Believe. You have to believe."
Moraes' playoff status was still to be determined, but at least Moraes went for it with gusto.
Stirn (11-5), who was making his PFL debut, is 29 and from Baltimore.
0:47
Chris Wade lands a devastating knee to the head of Arman Ospanov to put him away early in Round 2 of their fight.
Featherweights: Chris Wade (8 points) def. Arman Ospanov (0 points) by second-round TKO
What great timing by Wade, who got his first knockout in a 25-fight career that goes back a decade.
He had just seemingly recovered after being hurt by a flurry of Ospanov punches midway through the second round. Wade, who had been moving forward the whole fight, backed up Ospanov against the cage and threw what looked to be intended to land as a body kick. But Ospanov leaned forward at the same time, and the kick connected to the head, wobbling the fighter from Kazakhstan and leading to a knockout at 2:18 into the round.
The 5 points for the second-round finish sewed up a playoff spot for Wade (19-6), who came into the bout with 3 points following a decision win earlier in the season.
But the 33-year-old from Islip, New York, was most excited for his first knockout.
"Oh, my god, the monkey I just got off my back, you don't know," Wade said. "I've been waiting for that my whole career."
The 31-year-old Ospanov (11-4), was making his PFL debut, and will not make the featherweight playoffs.
Still to come...
ESPN2 & ESPN+ 10 p.m. ET | Watch
Women's lightweight showcase
Claressa Shields vs. Brittney Elkin
Clay Collard vs. Joilton Lutterbach | LW
Bubba Jenkins vs. Bobby Moffett | FW
Brendan Loughnane vs. Tyler Diamond | FW
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