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The Professional Fighters League (PFL) announced that PFL9, a 12-bout card that will be the second of three bouts in the League’s inaugural post-season, will be held at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach on October 13. The highly-anticipated event will feature light heavyweight and lightweight fighters who will be competing in a bracket-style playoff format in which they will have to win two bouts in one night to move on to the December 31 championship event.
Tickets for the first PFL playoff event are available now. Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com and PFLmma.com.
“It has been a great year for the Professional Fighters League and we are very excited to bring PFL9, our second playoff event, to Long Beach,” said Carlos Silva, PFL League President, “With our innovative format the League continues to make MMA history every time we put on an event and this bracket is sure to provide some incredible action in the cage as these guys compete for millions of dollars and a chance to become PFL champion.”
At the end of PFL9, two fighters in each of the light heavyweight and lightweight divisions will qualify for the December 31 championship event, where the winner in each weight class will win the title and the $1 million top prize. Top fighters slated to compete in Long Beach include the top-seeded Vinny Magalhaes, American star Will Brooks, and PFL broadcast/fighter Sean O’Connell.
“The regular season brought an amazing amount of finishes,” said Ray Sefo, PFL President of Fighting Operations. “Now it is time to see which guys will be able to handle fighting twice in one night in the Playoffs. Both top-seeds Vinny Magalhaes and Natan Schulte were incredible but I can’t wait to see if they can keep up their performances or if someone else will be the underdog we’re all talking about in December.”
“Long Beach is proud to host the Professional Fighters League at the Long Beach Arena on Oct. 13,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “It is the perfect venue for these elite athletes to compete.”
The 2018 PFL season features 126 fights on Thursday nights in seven regular-season events, bracket-style “win-or-go-home” playoffs, and a $10 million post-season prize pool—the largest prize pool in the history of MMA. The season began with 12 athletes in each of six different weight-classes. Eight fighters from each class have earned their way into the playoff round, and one fighter in each division will earn the title of champion.
U.S.-based and international fans will be able to watch all of the 2018 PFL Playoffs and Championship fights for free. In the United States, all three post-season season events will air live on Friday or Saturday in primetime exclusively on NBCSN, and stream live on NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and pflmma.com. Outside the U.S., Facebook will stream up to six hours of free, live coverage for each event. In the U.S., fans can watch the first three hours of coverage of each event on Facebook.
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