Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs Shane Burgos slated for PFL 3
The Professional Fighters League returns to us this coming April for three back-to-back-to-back events beginning on April 1 for PFL 1, followed up by PFL 2 on April 7, before PFL 3 goes down a week later on April 14.
As it currently stands, there are two fights booked for each event thus far.
We’ve got returning 2022 champions Brendan Loughnane and Rob Wilkinson making appearances at PFL 1, while another returning champion in Olivier Aubin-Mercier returns two weeks later at PFL 3 and will face promotional newcomer Shane Burgos.
Olivier Aubin-Mercier was a highly touted prospect coming off The Ultimate Fighter: Canada vs Australia, where he went 2-0 on the show en route to losing his finale bout via split decision to Chad Laprise.
Mercier would go 7-1 over his next eight outings, securing five finishes in that time, one of which came over the surging Drew Dober (rear naked choke), before leaving the promotion on a three-fight skid.
This saw him lose to the likes of Alexander Hernandez, Gilbert Burns, and Arman Tsarukyan, all via unanimous decision, prior to joining PFL’s roster in 2020.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions however, he wouldn’t debut in the promotion until June of 2021.
Upon his PFL debut, Mercier defeated UFC veterans Marcin Held (UD), Darrell Horcher (UD), two-time (2018, 2019) PFL lightweight champion Natan Schulte (SD), PFL 2021 lightweight champion Raush Manfio (UD), Alex Martinez (UD), and finally Stevie Ray (KO), another fellow UFC veteran, to capture the PFL lightweight championship in 2022.
Shane Burgos on the other hand will be making his promotional debut at this event, as his original PFL booking against fellow UFC veteran Marlon Moraes never came to fruition late last year.
The four-time Fight of the Night winner’s PFL debut has been highly anticipated, and for good reason.
Burgos, a massive featherweight mind you, is finally moving up to 155 lbs, and he’s fighting the best lightweight they have on their roster. He left the UFC on a two-fight win streak with wins over Billy Quarantillo (UD) and Charles Jourdain (MD), and he also boasts wins against Cub Swanson (SD) and Makwan Amirkhani (TKO).
Mercier holds a UFC record of 7-5, though as mentioned above, he’s gone 6-0 thus far into his PFL tenure, while Burgos went 8-3 in the UFC en route to his signing with the Professional Fighters League in 2022.
Who wins this epic lightweight encounter going down at PFL 3?
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