The Professional Fighters League playoffs are heading to California.
On Monday, officials announced via press release that the light heavyweight and lightweight finalists of the league’s inaugural season will be determined at PFL 9 on Oct. 13 at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif. Fighters will compete twice at the event for the chance to book their spot at the season finale on Dec. 31, where the playoffs champion will emerge with a $1 million prize.
Top light heavyweight seed Vinny Magalhaes and top lightweight seed Natan Schulte are scheduled to be in action on the PFL 9 main card, which will air live on NBCSN, with preliminary and post-fight coverage on Facebook.
Seeding in the PFL standings was determined by a points system, with a fighter earning three points for a win, plus additional points for a finish (3 points for finishing in the first, 2 for finishing in the second, 1 for finishing in the third). Fighters were expected to compete two times, though a few of the playoff participates made it in as late-notice replacements due to others dropping out due to injury or other reasons.
The announced PFL 9 card is as follows (seeding in parentheses, bout order to be determined):
Vinny Magalhaes (1) vs. Rakim Cleveland (8)
Bozigit Ataev (4) vs. Emiliano Sordi (5)
Dan Spohn (3) vs. Sean O’Connell (6)
Maxim Grishin (2) vs. Smealinho Rama (7)
Alternate bout - Brandon Halsey vs. Ronny Markes
Natan Schulte (1) vs. Johnny Case (8)
Chris Wade (4) vs. Robert Watley (5)
Islam Mamedov (3) vs. Thiago Tavares (6)
Will Brooks (2) vs. Rashid Magomedov (7)
Alternate bout - Ramsey Nijem vs. Yuki Kawana
At the end of the quarter-finals, the winner of the 1 vs. 8 matchups will face the winner of the 4 vs. 5 matchups, and the winner of the 2 vs. 7 matchups will face the winner of the 3 vs. 6 matchups.
The winners of those semifinals will then move on to the championship show on Dec. 31.