Francis Ngannou announces he will fight winner of PFL x Bellator MMA Heavyweight Champion fight

This weekend the inaugural Pay Per View MMA event between PFL Champions and Bellator MMA Champions will take place in Riyadh Saudi Arabia and the main event just got a bit more interested as former UFC Heavyweight Champion announced on ESPN Sports Center that he intends to make a return to the sport of MMA by facing the winner of the Heavyweight unification bout between Ryan Bader and Renan Ferreira.

While Francis Ngannou currently has a March Boxing fight scheduled against perennial Boxing Superstar Anthony Joshua following his split decision loss to unified Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.  While Ngannou announced he would make his return against the winner, no date of a prospective bout or venue was announced.

Other matchups include Impa Kasanganay X Johnny Eblen, Ray Cooper III X Jason Jackson, Bruno Cappelozza X Vadim Nemkov, Thiago Santos X Yoel Romero and Clay Collard X AJ Mckee.  The winner of each of these bouts will receive an exclusive PFL X Bellator MMA Champions Belt

Undercard action also features Aaron Pico in a rematch of his fight against Henry Corrales from 2019 and Claressa Shields return to MMA against Kelsey DeSantis at a catchweight of 165lbs. Cyborg had originally agreed to fight Kayla Harrison on this event, however Judo Kayla was announced as a UFC 300 fight against Holly Holm instead.  Cyborg attempted to schedule a bout for UFC Belfast against McCourt of Sinead rematch and was looking for a date to make Larissa Pacheco during the first half of 2024. With no options to fight on her MMA contract, Cyborg is currently preparing along side Holly Holm for a Boxing Fight April 27th in Green Bay Wisconsin.