DUBAI: The Professional Fighters League returned to Dubai for a fourth time as PFL Dubai at the Coca-Cola Arena, with spectators witnessing No.3-ranked Sergei Bilostenniy (16-4) take the PFL heavyweight world championship from Vadim Nemkov (20-3) with a hard-fought unanimous decision.
The former training partners had to put their friendship aside for this all-Russian clash where everything was at stake. Bilostenniy survived an early submission scare before using his striking to pick apart and out-point a bloodied Nemkov over the course of the following five rounds.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Vadim Nemkov and Team Fedor. The plan today was to fight and just have fun,” said an elated Bilostenniy. “I used to have a dream where I would call my parents and tell them, ‘Hey, I am a world champion’ … Dreams do come true, keep dreaming, work hard.”
In the co-main event, Belgian superstar and No. 4-ranked Patrick Habirora (10-0) continued his meteoric rise through the division with an emphatic first-round victory over No. 5 Omar El Dafrawy (16-7). While “The Belgian Bomber” is known for his KO power, Habirora’s grappling with a standing guillotine choke rendered El Dafrawy unconscious and registered his first career win — and El Dafrawy’s first loss — by submission.
This bring Habirora’s tally of straight first-round finishes to five. After the fight, he declared his intentions to challenge for the PFL world welterweight championship.
“I am 25 years old, I’ve been putting every guy I’ve been facing to sleep,” he said. “Nakisa! Hey, boss. Next is the belt. Let’s go!”
No. 1-ranked PFL heavyweight Oleg Popov (24-2) ended Pouya Rahmani’s (6-1) undefeated run with a dominant and one-sided win. The 2025 PFL World Heavyweight Tournament Champion now firmly establishes his position in the rankings and as a potential contender for the world title.
Japan’s Joji Goto (22-9-1) made an impressive start to his PFL career with a shutout unanimous decision victory over the former Bellator bantamweight champion, No. 4-Sergio Pettis (25-9) and took to the mic afterwards to declare himself as a potential challenger for the PFL world bantamweight title.
The UK’s Lewis McGrillen (14-2) proved too much for Nawras Abzakh (15-7, 1 NC) in the opening bout of the main card. The 26-year-old promised ‘McGrillen 2.0’ coming into this contest and delivered, forcing Abzakh to retire in between rounds after suffering five minutes of relentlessness and a flying knee.
In the feature fight of the PFL Dubai early card, 2024 and 2025 PFL Europe lightweight tournament finalist Connor Hughes (13-3) won the grudge match against the debuting Shem Rock (12-4-1) with a huge faceplant knockout in the second round.
