Preview: PFL 2025 World Tournament 5: Semifinals

The Professional Fighters League launches its 2025 World Tournament semifinals on Thursday with a card packed with high stakes and bad blood. At the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, four of the top welterweights and featherweights in the PFL will scrap in the Smartcage for a spot in the finals.

In the main event of 2025 PFL World Tournament 5: Semifinals, former Bellator MMA welterweight champion Jason “The Ass-Kicking Machine” Jackson pits his pedigree against the dangerous, young and undefeated challenger, Thad “Silverback” Jean. The co-main event promises an anticipated rubber match between 2023 PFL featherweight champion Jesus Pinedo and feared contender Gabriel Braga.

Keep your eyes on the preliminary card as four of the fights could produce an alternate in the tournament. The PFL World Tournament will pay out over $20 million in total prize money, including a $500,000 bonus for every winner, so don’t be surprised if one lucky fighter has his name called for a chance to win it all as an unexpected dark horse.

The prelims are set to air on ESPN+ at 8:30 p.m. ET with the main card to follow on ESPN/ESPN+ at 11 p.m. ET. Here’s your preview for the 2025 PFL semifinals: Welterweights and Featherweights.

Fighters only get one shot! Watch the Semifinals of the PFL World Tournament LIVE Thursday, June 12 at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+

PFL Welterweight Semifinal
Jason Jackson (19-5) vs. Thad Jean (9-0)
Odds: Jackson (-210); Jean (+170)

Jean is one of the most exciting prospects to grace the SmartCage. Fighting out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jean is a beast of a man for 170 pounds and has all the explosiveness and agility of a fighter on the cusp of his physical prime. He’s competed in MMA since 2018 and turned pro four years ago but has been brought up in a way that could be detrimental in the biggest fight of his career. In nine pro bouts, Jean has yet to fight an opponent with the experience and class of Jackson. Jean’s a force, for sure, and a threat to take anybody out within the opening minutes, but in his fight against Chris Brown last year, holes in his standup were exposed. Jean showed fatigue in the second and third rounds and was outworked in exchanges by the Jackson-Wink product. Jean’s work behind a long jab and several big shots that physically wobbled Brown pushed him through on the scorecards. Jean didn’t have a ton of time to show his growth in his last fight after demolishing Mukhamed Berkhamov in the first round of the tournament last April.

Jackson didn’t seem to be fazed by Jean’s highlight-reel KO, but Kingston, Jamaica’s former titleist would be kidding himself to underestimate Jean. While the 34-year-old Kill Cliff FC prize hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down, this fight could be the changing of the guard if he’s not careful. On paper, Jean is larger, stronger, and younger, but you can’t compare the resumes. With wins over Yaroslav Amosov, Douglas Lima, Paul Daley, Neiman Gracie and more, Jackson has proved he can get his hand raised in any fashion deemed necessary. His rear-naked choke of Andrey Koreshkov was a masterclass, and he definitely has the tools to hand Jean his first loss.

This fight will get tougher for Jean the longer it goes. Jackson has a solid gas tank but knows when to raise the pressure. Jackson doesn’t storm out and look for the knockout early, and that’ll be Jean’s opportunity to set the tone early. When former champions have grown accustomed to fighting in five-round bouts, the transition back to three rounds is somewhat jarring. There isn’t as much time to settle into the fight and drain the opponent. This could be Jackson’s downfall. If Jean opens the fight intensely as expected, the Haitian haymaker could keep Jackson tentative enough to upset him on the scorecards.

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Jackson vs. Jean
Pinedo vs. Braga
Storley vs. Kikuiri
Khaybulaev vs. Kim
The Prelims