Fight Facts: PFL 2025 World Tournament 3

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS: 1,241
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 131

The Professional Fighters League is spitting hot fire so far through three parts of the opening round of its World Tournament. High finish rates coupled with fairly exciting action have given audiences plenty to enjoy, with a plethora of different results to pick from. The 2025 PFL World Tournament 3 event featured the first spinning back elbow knockout in company history, a Herculean brabo choke and Russian powerhouse who is quickly realizing just how hard he can hit.

Sleek and Swift: Just like the first two tourney events this year, PFL 2025 3 featured exactly eight fights. In the history of the organization, there had never been a three-card stretch where no event topped eight bouts, not counting the Challenger Series.

Don’t Bother Betting: Two fighters clocked in as betting favorites of -1000 or above at this event: Gadzhi Rabadanov (-1400) and Brent Primus (-1000). Both 155ers not only prevailed, but won by stoppage.

Out of His Brother’s Shadow: Pounding out Impa Kasanganay in the second round, Fabian Edwards became the final middleweight semifinalist. The Brit who has fought beyond the first round in his last six outings earned a place against Joshua Silveira in the semis.

Good Gadzhi: Rabadanov blazed through Marc Diakiese in half a minute to punch his ticket to the next round. Scoring three KOs in a row in PFL competition—and not TKOs—he is one shy of all-time leader Renan Ferreira.

Powering Up: The stoppage time coming at 32 seconds, Rabadanov put Diakiese through the wringer. In his 30th pro fight, it is the Dagestan native’s quickest knockout by nearly a minute and a half.

Herc Smash: Dalton Rosta crushed Sadibou Sy’s 2025 tournament aspirations courtesy of a second-round submission. “Hercules” has seen nine of his 11 pro outings last longer than one round.

New Dog, New Tricks: Rosta landed the fifth brabo choke in organizational history by snaring Sy. His is the first to take place after Round 1.

Subpar for Sy: The defeat for ex-welterweight Sy is his seventh on the roster—along with Clay Collard, who lost earlier on the billing. Both men sit in a second-place tie for the most in the history of the league. Chris Wade’s eight are atop the pack.

Now He Waits for 2026: Albeit in an unsuccessful effort, Sy is the second fighter in combined World Series of Fighting-PFL history to amass over 20 appearances under the company banner. His 21 fights with WSOF or PFL leave him one shy from overall lead Lance Palmer (22).

Forcing It Through: With 18 seconds left on the clock, Jay-Jay Wilson forced referee Bryan Miner to step in and save Mads Burnell from further damage. Only four fighters in non-title tilts have notched later finishes, including one other at this event.

A Slight Bink: Courtesy of a spinning back elbow and follow-up punches, lightweight Alfie Davis advanced at the expense of Collard. He will meet Primus in June as the only fighter in promotional history to earn a spinning back elbow stoppage.

A Crack in the Chin of Cassius Clay: In the sport of MMA, the durable boxer Collard had only once before been finished with strikes. Max Holloway outdueled him over a decade ago at UFC Fight Night 49.

Happy Papa: Silveira settled for a decision win over Mike Shipman to move on to the next round. The finish rate for the American Top Team protégé fell to 86% with the victory.

Primed and Ready: Earning the first spot in the lightweight semifinals, Primus throttled Vinicius Sacchelli Cenci with a late rear-naked choke. The former Bellator MMA beltholder performed the second-latest finish in PFL non-championship history at 4:52 of the third frame.

Censeless Violence: Cenci celebrates the majority of his wins via submission, including five of seven by rear-naked choke. On the losing end, he has never tasted defeat by any means other than that exact maneuver.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into PFL 2025 3, Diakiese had never been knocked out (25 fights), Rosta had never performed a submission (10 fights) and Silveira had never won a three-round fight on the scorecards (17 fights).