PFL

Photo via PFL MMA PR

PFL Signs Three World Champions for the 2023 Season

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced the signings of three MMA world champions to compete under their promotional umbrella. Though kings and queens were recently coronated, anticipation is already growing for the next season. Rizvan Kuniev, Quemuel Ottoni, and Manoel Sousa are set to join the organization’s stacked, seemingly ever-growing roster.

“We are excited to add these elite fighters to our global roster,” said Ray Sefo, President of Fighter Operations of PFL. “The PFL will put these athletes on the global stage.”

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Rizvan Kuniev is the current Eagle FC Heavyweight Champion. The Russian powerhouse enters himself into the PFL fold with 12 professional wins. Kuniev, proficient in Wushu Sanda, is a 6’4” knockout artist who will look to power his way to a PFL championship. He rides a ten-fight winning streak into the looming season having garnered wins on circuits like Pro FC, GFC, and Dana White’s Contender Series. Kuniev last fought in March where he submitted Anthony Hamilton with a sub-eighty-second guillotine choke at Eagle FC 46.

Quemuel Ottoni is the Jungle Fights titleholder at 170 pounds. He is the only man to have beaten current UFC middleweight world champion Alex Pereira in MMA. The accomplished welterweight joins the PFL on a five-fight winning streak, with 12 professional victories. Ottoni has also garnered wins under the Berkut Young Eagles and LFA banners. He has an eighty-three percent finishing rate overall which should favor him in the PFL points structure that rewards stoppages.

Manoel ”Manumito” Sousa, the SFT Lightweight Champion, is set to step into the PFL SmartCage with an unblemished pro resume. The 25-year-old’s professional record stands at 9-0-0 and the 155-pounder is riding a twelve-fight winning streak dating back to his amateur days in mixed martial arts. Also of note, Sousa has a remarkable, flawless finishing rate of one hundred percent as a professional. He has logged back-to-back finishes with CFFC heading into this next chapter of his career with the Professional Fighters League.

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Dylan Bowker
I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.