Patrick Habirora knocks out Benson Henderson at PFL Brussels

PFL Brussels took place at the ING Arena in Brussels in front of a packed crowd full of energy who was there to support undefeated prospect Patrick Habirora who was taking a fight that many people felt was a ‘step up’ as he face a former WEC and UFC Champion in Benson Henderson a proven brazilian jiu jitsu black belt and a high level wrestler.

At only 25 years of age, Patrick Habirora passed with flying colors.  Following an impressive amateur career and a PFL Europe tournament championship Habirora was undefeated at 8-0 enterting the fight and while Benson Henderson had not competed since his 2023 loss to Usman Nurmagomedov his expereience alone was considered to be a good test for Habirora.  Instead of being a difficult test, Habirora used elusive footward and explosion to pick up the 1st round KO at only 20 seconds of the first round.  One thing is for sure, Professional Fighters League will need to step up his competition in the next matchup with another top 10 ranked PFL fighter.

The Co Main event saw Taylor Lapilus secure a decision over Jake Hadley.  The heavy handed Boris Mbarga Atangana secured a KO over UFC veteran Jared Gooden at 1:05 of the first round. Naoki Inoue scored a split decision over Brazilian Marcirley Alves and Asael Adjoudj scored a head kick KO over Keisuke Sasu in the 2nd round.

The preliminary fights included wins by Gustavo Oliveira by Guillotine Choke, Donegi Abena over Joe Schilling in a weird bout that reuslted in a TKO after Schilling refused to restart after a foul.  Movsar Ibragimov defeated Shane Campbell with a RNC.  Khamzat Abaev earned a 1st round TKO over Luca Poclit.  Adam Meskini defeated Keweny Lopes with a split decision and the first fight of the night saw Ashley Reece defeat Rustam Serbiev with a decision.