Canberra based heavyweight and former K-1 fighter Ben Edwards will participate in the 2019 season of the Professional Fighters League (PFL).
Season two of the PFL begins May 10 (AEDT) with the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New York set to host the 2019 debut. The heavyweights are to make their regular season debuts on June 6 from the same venue.
“The Guvner” experienced a frustrating 2018, fighting in MMA just once but did kick-start his 2019 just last month with a second round stoppage over Wallace To’o in the main event of Monaro Fight Circuit 29 in Canberra. The win took his record to a perfect 4-0 in MMA.
Among the other new heavyweights announced to be participating in Edwards’ division will be Ante Delija (15-3) and Denis Goltsov (22-5) who join existing competitors Muhammad DeReese (7-0), Alex Nicholson (13-7), Jared Rosholt (17-6) and Kelvin Tiller (10-2).
The winner at the end of the season will walk away with prize money of US$1 million with tournaments also scheduled at featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, light-heavyweight and women’s lightweight.
A third announcement of fighters for the season is expected on April 1.
Here is the 2019 roster announced to date:
Heavyweights:
- Philipe Lins (14-3)
- Denis Goltsov (22-5)
- Ben Edwards (4-0)
- Muhammed Dereese (7-0)
- Kelvin Tiller (10-2)
- Jared Rosholt (17-6)
- Alex Nicholson (13-7)
- Ante Delija (15-3)
Light-Heavyweights:
- Vinny Magalhaes (18-10)
- Jordan Johnson (10-0)
- Bozigit Ataev (20-3)
- Maxim Grishin (28-7-1)
- Smealinho Rama (11-5-1)
- Dan Spohn (18-6)
- Viktor Nemkov (27-7)
Welterweights:
- Magomed Magomedkerimov (23-5)
- Zane Kamaka (13-3)
- David Michaud (15-4)
- Louis Taylor (18-4-1)
- Bojan Velickovic (16-8-2)
- Ray Cooper III (17-6)
- Sadibou Sy (7-4-1)
- John Howard (27-14-1)
- Handesson Ferreira (13-2-1)
Lightweights:
- Nathan Schulte (14-3-1)
- Yincang Bao (13-5)
- Loik Radzhabov (11-0)
- Rashid Magomedov (22-3-1)
- Nate Andrews (15-1)
- Chris Wade (14-5)
Featherweights:
- Lance Palmer (17-3)
- Alexandre Almeida (20-9)
- Steven Siler (32-18-1)
- Luis Rafael Laurentino (33-1)
- Alex Gilpin (12-1)
- Andre Harrison (20-1)
Women’s Lightweight:
- Kayla Harrison (3-0)
- Sarah Kaufman (20-4)
- Bobby Jo Dalziel (4-0)
- Genah Fabian (1-0)
- Larissa Pacheco (11-2)
- Robert Samad (4-1)
- Morgan Frier (4-1)
- Svetlana Khautova (2-0)
Video: Ben Edwards stops Jeremy Joiner at Monaro Fight Circuit (MFC) 26
