Brent Primus, PFL 2025 Week 3 post-fight video interview
Brent Primus met the media after his win over Vinicius Cenci
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USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
PFL's unbeaten Alexei Pergande aims to shake prospect label, potentially enter tournament
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – One of PFL's brightest prospects, Alexi Pergande, is eager to prove he's much more than that. The 24-year-old Pergande (6-0) is undefeated and quickly turning heads early in his career. All of his pro bouts have taken place within the PFL ecosystem, so he's been given a big platform to perform since the beginning. To some, that could be daunting, and Pergande admits he was no different. "The first few fights, I was definitely nervous to be on the bigger stage, but I feel like now I've crossed that border, that barrier, where now it's just excitement," Pergande told MMA Junkie at American Top Team. "Now, I just want to go in there. I want to do something flashy. As you can see, I always have those flying knees. I have elbows, I have back flips – everything I can to get the crowd excited, and to me, I'm a performer. I just love to do that." While Pergande embraces a flashy style to captivate the fans, his MMA idol, Georges St-Pierre, was a little more reserved in that aspect. He's picked up things from GSP that he implements in his game, that he hopes will help inspire future generations of martial artists. "Just because how humble he was and his skills in martial arts in general, he brought those two things really well together," Pergande said. "He wasn't quiet, but he was just very humble and just went out there and did his thing, and then moved on to the next thing – and that's kind of how I want to be. I love to inspire people and inspire the younger generation. I've been very active on TikTok and Whatnot and I've built a very big fanbase on there. I've inspired so many people that reached out to me and said, 'Hey, I started my martial arts career because of you.' To me, that's all I really need." In his second fight of the year, Pergande takes on Ethan Goss in a featherweight bout at 2025 PFL World Tournament 10: Finals on Aug. 21. It's his first main card placement of what he anticipates will be many. While Goss (12-7) doesn't bring a record that jumps off the page, Pergande expects he'll be mixing it up with the next level of competition next year, and is eyeing a potential entry into next year's PFL tournament. "One or two more fights, I'll be facing the guys that are in the tournament right now," Pergande said. "Possibly even, we'll see about next year if I'll be in there. We'll see. I'm not going to say anything yet, but that's on the horizon. I'm at the point in my career where I don't care who I fight anymore. Anyone PFL offers me, I say yes. It's up to them at this point. I'll say yes to anyone."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Dalton Rosta GOES OFF on Fabian Edwards: 'I'm going to take his heart'
Dalton Rosta speaks to MMA Junkie's Danny Segura ahead of his 2025 PFL World Tournament Final against Fabian Edwards on Aug. 2 in Hollywood, Fla.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Dakota Ditcheva details terms of new PFL contract, 'frustration' over long layoff
PFL brought out all its stars for its debut in Cape Town, South Africa this past weekend, including pound-for-pound climber Dakota Ditcheva. Now 15-0 after her dominant unanimous decision win over Sumiko Inaba, the undefeated superstar had gathered dust on the shelf since her last appearance in November — the eight-month layoff represented, by far, the longest of her MMA career. Ditcheva voiced her concerns about inactivity in recent months, which ultimately led to her getting her wish and landing the Inaba fight. Along with that in-cage return came a fresh new PFL contract as well, as Ditcheva revealed after her win. Speaking this week on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show," Ditcheva expanded on what her immediate future with the company entails. "I am happy now in the end. It took a while," Ditcheva said. "I fought last November, so it took us a while until something was right for the both of us, but I'm happy now. I've secured my future for me and my family. I'll be there until 2027. How can I not be happy with that? I'm looking forward to hopefully building the division now and challenging someone else. If I'm not champion, I don't really care about that. I care about winning. I don't really care about the belt. So, for me, I get to challenge other girls now and I'm happy to carry on doing that, but getting what I deserve out of it at the same time." Unfortunately for Ditcheva, her long-awaited return didn't land as an overall positive. In the opening minute of the third round against Inaba, Ditcheva broke her left hand on a punch. She underwent surgery this week to repair the damage, postponing any hopes of her regaining steam and maintaining a high level of activity. Ultimately, the negotiation period took as long as it did because Ditcheva stood her ground after her breakthrough run through 2024's PFL flyweight tournament. "I just know what I deserve now, and I feel like it just took a little bit of time for them to understand how serious I was about getting what I deserve. I wasn't really going to settle, as well," she said. "It's difficult. [PFL] haven't really seen where the division's going. I want to be somewhere that's active, and when you keep me out for eight months, you're not giving me any confidence for me to be active. I'm not OK with sitting out for eight months, and I'm not OK sitting out for longer. So I had to kind of sit down and get a plan with them and know that I'm going to be fighting and I'm not going to be out for another eight months, which is now part of my contract. I have dates in there now. I've got time limits where they need to keep me active, and I feel like they understood how serious I was about good opponents and making sure I'm fighting. Once we'd come to that agreement, I felt like we'd come to a good deal in place." Ditcheva, 26, has mostly been a silent but violent force throughout her career, letting her work in the cage do much of her talking. That's still the case, however she gained so much momentum in 2024 that she became a pound-for-pound player; she currently sits at No. 5 here at Uncrowned. Having that momentum halted by the promotion's decision-making in 2025 rather than her own was far from ideal. "For sure, I felt the frustration, but I wanted to stay professional," Ditcheva said. "Obviously a lot of people went online and stuff [to complain], and everyone's different. Obviously people are sat out a lot longer than I have. I just kind of wanted to make sure I had a direction first before I started moaning publicly. I felt like it was something PFL and I could solve behind closed doors, and we have in the end. "I did do that one interview that was telling everyone I don't know what's going on, then literally like the next weekend I had a fight announced, so it kind of helped at the same time. I prefer to keep everything private and work through it that way until it's necessary." Going forward, activity shouldn't be an issue for the British knockout artist thanks to her new contract. Ditcheva shared that she has a certain number of fights guaranteed to fulfill until her contract expires in 2027. So depending on how quickly she fulfills those fights, she can become a free agent earlier. In the interim, Ditcheva will heal from her broken hand. After that, who knows what could be in store, as she teased the possibility of unexpected possibilities, including non-MMA fights. "You never know what happens in the next two years," Ditcheva said. "You could see some kind of — I don't know. People might lose their mind at the top of these promotions and make us do a crossover. You just don't know. You've got to be patient. Anything can happen in two years. Don't write me off."
