Bantamweights, Women’s Flyweights Advance in Upset-Filled 2025 PFL 2 Card

Just two events into the season, and most of the brackets have gone up in smoke.

The opening round of Professional Fighters League’s global tournament is already halfway over. Upsets were plentiful and results were largely entertaining as the slim and sleek eight-fight 2025 PFL World Tournament 2 show wrapped in a bit under four hours. The action-packed evening culminated in an unexpected showdown at 135 pounds between Bellator MMA vet Leandro Higo (23-7, 0-1 PFL) and extremely late replacement Marcirley Alves (13-4, 1-0 PFL). Coming into this main attraction on a day’s notice after Higo’s original opponent of Josh Rettinghouse could not get cleared, Alves showed he was fully prepared to rise to the occasion.

Partway through the first round, the wide-swinging Alves knocked Higo clean off his feet with a huge left hand, and he climbed into top position and controlled the remainder of the opening frame. Alves was keen on reintroducing his countryman to his looping haymakers in the next period, catching Higo with his booming left again and again. While Higo stormed back for part of the second stanza, he appeared to be a step behind the younger man. Even if he held his own on the feet, he could not buy a takedown to take the fight into his world.

As the Brazilians entered the final round, Alves came out favoring his right leg, which might have sustained some damage either throwing or absorbing kicks. As a result, Alves switched to orthodox, where his left hook did not have nearly as much mustard on it. Higo came out strong, but it was not enough to get his hand raised. Carrying on with the evening’s theme of upsets, two judges awarded Alves scores of 29-28, overtaking Higo’s lone 29-28 in his favor to take the nod by split decision.

Liz Carmouche unleashes a relentless barrage of brutal body shots for the WIN!#PFLWorldTournament LIVE NOW
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— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 12, 2025

Hoping that 2025 is the charm as she re-enters the flyweight tourney, Liz Carmouche (23-8, 3-1 PFL) stood toe-to-toe against a woman 11 years her junior in Ilara Joanne (12-10, 1-2 PFL). Proving that age is nothing but a number, the ex-Bellator champion ran roughshod over her Brazilian counterpart. From the opening bell, Carmouche came out sharp as ever, putting Joanne down with a nasty leg kick and then butchering her to the body when Joanna recovered and put her back to the wall. The brutal body shots broke “Arya Stark” down in a hurry, as she slumped to her side and shelled up. A final salvo of Donkey Kong-esque hammerfists from “Girl-Rilla” punctuated the one-sided drubbing, forcing referee Josh Rutgers to step in just 85 seconds into the clash.

The WMMA pioneer violently returned to the win column thanks to her beatdown of Joanne, and she was all smiles as she punched her ticket to the semifinals once more.

Francesco Nuzzi (10-2, 1 NC; 1-1, 1 NC PFL) collided with Mando Gutierrez (11-3, 1-0 PFL) in the penultimate bantamweight quarterfinal pairing. In the first 65 seconds, Nuzzi practiced the art of Dundasso perfectly by landing not one but two eye pokes that only received warnings. Walking through strikes that busted him up and produced a crimson mask, the ultra-aggressive Gutierrez surged forward to tackle Nuzzi to the ground and wrap up a rear-naked choke. The Italian protected his neck on the first few efforts, but Gutierrez was a man on a mission in securing the submission. As soon as Nuzzi called it a day, the Mexican underdog released the grip and shoved Nuzzi over, still a bit fired up from the fouls earlier in the round.

The tap came at 4:13 of the first round, putting in the books yet another upset and further transforming the landscape of the bracket. In victory, “El Toro” sets himself up with a scintillating semifinal scrap against another man not expected to get this far.

Related » 2025 PFL 2 Round-by-Round Scoring

Kasum Kasumov (15-2, 0-1 PFL) squared off with Justin Wetzell (11-2, 1-0 PFL) in a catchweight contest as Wetzell missed weight by over two pounds, resulting in one of the more shocking victors out of the entire tournament landscape. Very little of their encounter took place in kickboxing range, as Kasumov shot for a takedown early and continued to pursue it or engage in a prolonged clinch battle. Wetzell’s best success came in the form of hacking elbows to the side of the head, until he managed to ground the Russian for some time. In the final frame, Kasumov sold out for the takedown, and Wetzell stifled him with elbows, hammerfists and a sneaky inverted triangle position he used to nullify his opponent and land blows. The fighters reached the final horn, with little doubt as to who would get their hand raised.

Wetzell, a betting underdog as high as +750 on some books, ruined Kasumov’s party by ejecting him from the tournament courtesy of two 30-27 tallies and one of 29-28 all in Wetzell’s favor.

💣 BRACKET. BUSTED. 💣
🇺🇦 Ekaterina Shakalova just stunned the world#PFLWorldTournament LIVE NOW
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— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 12, 2025

Flyweight quarterfinal three of four contained a classic matchup of Brazil vs. Ukraine, with former Bellator queen Juliana Velasquez (13-4, 1-2 PFL) coming to blows with Ekaterina Shakalova (9-2, 1-0 PFL). The less-experienced Shakalova was quick to engage, charging fearlessly towards Velasquez and rending her to the mat. Shakalova pursued a rear-naked choke relentlessly, never letting go of the grip. As she continued to adjust the submission, she finally slid it under the chin, and the Brazilian surrendered at 2:05 of the opening stanza. Easily notching the biggest win of her career, the 27-year-old celebrated by chowing down on a softball-sized cinnamon roll her corner just so happened to have standing by.

Blowing up the expectation that it would be Carmouche vs. Velasquez part four in the finals, Shakalova shocked the world with her upset submission. Perhaps more remarkably, the Ukrainian is the first woman not named Carmouche to beat the former pound-for-pound talent Velasquez.

JAKE HADLEY HAS JUST MADE HISTORY!
Scottish Twister submission 😳 in the Bantamweight World Tournament?! You heard that right.

💥 Highlight reel for eternity.#PFLWorldTournament LIVE NOW
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— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 12, 2025

Kicking off the bantamweight portion of the tourney, Matheus Mattos (14-4-1, 0-1) and Jake Hadley (12-4, 1-0 PFL) threw down in a battle of PFL debutants. Both well-rounded competitors, they proceed to alternate between speedy exchanges of fisticuffs and wild grappling scrambles. As the ex-UFC fighter’s confidence swelled in the second stanza, he dislodged Mattos’ mouthguard with a combination and did serious work to the body with a prolonged barrage of blows. With a full head of steam, Hadley lifted Mattos up in Round 3 and deposited him gingerly the canvas, while wrapping up a body triangle. In an unusual position with Hadley on the side of his opponent, his legs fastened around the waist, he allowed Mattos to flip him over so he could set a very dangerous trap.

The Brazilian climbing into top position, Hadley left his legs around the midsection and torqued his opponent an unnatural angle to suddenly secure a modified twister out of the playbook of Steven Ray. By the time Mattos realized he was in danger, he had to call it quits lest his spine begin to take the shape of a pretzel. With style points, Hadley elicited the tap at 2:16 of the last round, earning himself a place in the semifinals against the victor of the main event.

The second bout on the fight card saw Kana Watanabe (13-4-1, 1-2 PFL) try to improve her fortunes in the PFL cage at the expense of Jena Bishop (8-2, 2-2 PFL). Very keen on trying to pick up the first knockout win of her career, Bishop came out of her corner like her hair was on fire—despite taking on a woman with flaming red dyed hair. After taking damage and figuring out her own range, Watanabe turned the tables and put Bishop on her seat with a clean right hook, only for Bishop to bloody her nose up with a surprise barrage of upkicks. The second round saw more of the same, a back-and-forth striking affair with defense at a premium. The grapplers continued to trade leather, busting one another around and nearly dropping the other multiple times as the scrap progressed. With a bit over a minute remaining in the matchup, Bishop dragged the fight to the ground, took the Japanese woman’s back and fastened a body triangle around the waist. Bishop sought out several rear-naked chokes and a nasty face crank, but Watanabe made it to the final bell.

After three fairly exciting rounds, judges issued scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 all in favor of the more active woman in Bishop. Just like that, Bishop moves on to the semifinals, a plateau she reached in the previous tournament, with a date in June against Shakalova.

Just like last week, exactly eight matches took place during the event, with all eight falling under the tournament umbrella without a showcase or alternate in sight. The engagements began with a flyweight tilt pitting Elora Dana (8-0, 1-0 PFL) against Diana Avsaragova (6-2, 0-1 PFL). The two women were fairly well-matched on the feet, with the Russian pulling ahead early as she dropped Dana in the midst of a wild exchange. Dana toughed it out to will herself into a takedown attempt, where she dragged Avsaragova to a knee and took her back. On a second effort, Dana secured the takedown she was seeking, and passed to half guard on the side while wrapping her arm around Avsaragova’s neck. The unbeaten woman gripped her unorthodox neck crank with all of her might, without the guillotine set or tight, and crank she did. With 12 seconds left on the clock, Avsaragova had no choice but to tap out.

Late replacement Dana became the first flyweight to advance in her bracket, while also becoming the first woman in company history to lock down a neck crank submission.