PFL 6: 2024 Regular Season

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

So PFL keeps Jordan Oliver but doesn't keep Michael Blockhus?..........................Logic.

@Sexy Beefer 

Maybe cause Oliver is an Olympic wrestler and National Champion, while Blockhus was just an average starter at Minnesota.

* Edited at 05.03.2024, 1:11 PM ET *

Well they did a bad matchmaking here. Loughane have it way to easy this year. Most of those figth are zero competitive, looks like they just put their decisionator in very easy figth to make sure they dont get kick out of the series.

I'm still so excited for how stacked these two divisions are. It's interesting that the two russian dark horses are matched together!

The booking is pretty bad tho. Poor Ward. If he didn't have a chance last fight, he sure as hell won't have a chance here.

Storley vs. Staropoli is one of the more absurd mismatches I've seen in a long, long time. 

@foppa420 

They REALLY don't want Staropoli to be in this tournament

Yeah same with the other events, they tried hard to favor PFL fighters and screw former Bellator fighters.
They can't claim that matchmaking is random, or that there is a system to it. Obviously neither are true. Their stars get great matchups and the rest get the shaft.

A few different options for how they could make this tournament better and remove all the claims of bias when they release matches. 

Option 1
Announce the match ups for both rounds before any fights take place. This is assuming no injuries and everyone who fights the first fight can fight again 10 weeks later. If they can’t that fighter is replaced by someone else but none of the other fights change. 
To get the match ups they do a true random drawing, similar to what they do for the UEFA Champions League. Put all names in a bowl and pull the names out two at a time. These pairings fight in the first event. Put the names back in and draw out again for the second event. 
For this to work they would need to televise or stream on insta/youtube. 

Option 2 
Start with 16 fighters per division - can probably manage this now with the bellator fighters. 
Have it as a pure elimination tournament so if you lose the first fight you are out. 
With this option they can bring in a ranking/seeding system too. Could give everyone a rank from 1-16 with the first round fighting the opposite, so 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15 etc. Or they could copy the grand slam tennis version where only the top quarter are seeded. So in this case 1-4. Set it up so they are in different quarters of the draw so if all goes to plan you’d have 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 as the semi finals. 
How they decide on the seeding system is up to them. But you’d imagine the 1 seed would be the defending champ. 
This option obviously takes away the point system for finishing fights quickly. 

I figure either of these options are better than what they’ve currently got with all the controversy around match ups. What do you guys think? 

Tyler Diamond vs Jose Perez added

Apparently Lorenz Larkin is on this card but idk who he’s fighting 

I wouldn’t bet timur. Almost every barzola fight plays out like a pickem. He has never ending cardio and is a great wrestler. Timur should win but it’s not going to be an easy fight for him; this is probably the hardest style of matchup for him

Oh I agree, he’s definitely the more skilled fighter. It’s just that barzola has this innate ability to fight close with everyone. He fights at a crazy pace, can wrestle his ass off, and is super durable. Timur has good cardio but we did see him slow down in one of his fights (I think weichel). We saw in barzola’s last fight that he got badly rocked, but then survived and ended up making the fight incredibly close, against a significantly better opponent. Timur can crack as well so he will have to be mindful to not rush anything, unless he has the cardio to do it. IMO, this is a dog or pass spot; again, timur is better but he’s probably going to be something like -300 when in reality this fight will play out probably like a timur -130/-150

* Edited at 05.21.2024, 10:20 AM ET *

Barzola is too small for the featherweight division. He's a beast at bantamweight.

Same thing with Brett Johns. Really good fighter but just too small for 145.

Lorenz Larkin vs Alan Dominguez added

Loughnane vs. Gonzales
Brendan Loughnane, TKO, R2
So I guess Brendan gets a piss easy path to playoffs again. I get they like him and yeah hes exciting but you really don't want to give him a test? I like j-train a lot but it's hard got win fights when you keep getting **** matchups like this; his last 3 fights have all been very tough. All this being said, Brendan is definitely washed. Last regular season he looked horrible; could barely beat regional fighters they kept throwing him and just looked off. He wouldn't throw anything, defense looked very poor, and he was getting outgrappled. He turned it around in the finals but just not a good look at all. He is 35 and has been insanely active as of late, so that could very well play a role. I could definitely see him fighting to the level of j train and getting outwrestled, but it's probably unlikely. J train had a bad beat last fight, I thought he comfortably took round 1 and then got slept right before the bell; such a tough look. I think he has the skills to make this competitive, but Brendan should get him out of there

Storley vs. Staropoli
Logan Storley, TKO, R1
Guess the pfl was really unhappy with the staropoli weight miss lol. I think he sucks anyways but damn they really want to kill him. No shame in losing to shamil last fight, but sorely looked really off. Hes never been a great striker but it looked like he was lost out there; bro had absolutely zero idea what was happening. He also didn't even attempt a single td which was weird. He honestly looked injured to me in that fight, it was a very weird performance. Assuming he is 100% ready to go, he should dominate this fight. Storely is good at one thing and that's wrestling; staroopoli is very bad at wrestling and we saw him get dominated by it in his last fight. One takedown should seal the deal for storely here.

Umalatov vs. Ward
Magomed Umalatov, TKO, R1
I still don't rate umalatov that highly, but he is better than I thought. He has good wrestling and very powerful striking but something just doesn't sit right about him with me. That being said, he is getting a pathetically easy fight here. Ward is a fun action fighter but not a good one. Defense is an afterthought and he can't grapple at all. It's not how does umalatov win this fight, but what method does he use? I think he can easily sleep ward on the feet, but the easiest path to victory is a takedown and sub; he is clueless on the mat. That being said I think umaltov is just going to ko him in the first exchange

Braga vs. Jenkins
Gabriel Alves Braga, TKO, R3
This should be an easy one for braga. I really like braga's game; he is super well rounded and is a very technical fighter. I don't usually like watching that style, but he blends everything together very well so I like watching it. My one issue with him is he frequently fights to his opponents level or won't put a stamp on his punches. I kind of doubt he has issues here, but he probably will do a lot of stalling on the mat while bubba looks for positions. Bubba is a great wrestler but hes at the point in his career where he can't just rely on that anymore. IN fact, the playbook to beating bubba has been clear for a long time; just show some resistance to the wrestling or touch him up on the feet, and he will gas out badly. Once his cardio goes, the rest of his game quickly leaves him; he becomes very slow and very hittable. He also has a lot of quit in him as well. I think he will win most of the wrestling early, but braga will start to defend later and pick him apart.

Ramazanov vs. Musaev
Murad Ramazanov, SUB, R2
This is dumb matchmaking. I love the fight don't get me wrong, but these two could easily meet in the finals; idk why they have to fight now. Both should make playoffs luckily but why kill off one now? Musaev is more well rounded but murad is elite at what he does. If this stays standing, shamil will probably finish him. I think shamil is good enough to not die when it hits the mat, but eventually murad is going to finish him; hes just too good at what he does. Murad is an elite wrestler and his top control is incredible. The size different is going to be huge as well. I know they have similar frames but murad fought at 185 in ONE and didn't look even remotely undersized.

Khizriev vs. Barzola
Enrique Barzola, DEC
I already said my piece on this fight earlier, but I am going with the dog here. I know Timur is the better fighter, and I have been extremely impressed with him. He has beaten everyone hes fought soundly, and looks very good while doing it. His striking and wrestling are both amazing. The reason I am fading him here is cardio. Now, Timur has a perfectly fine gas tank but I did see him slow down against weichel. Now, nothing concerning, especially since he didn't death gas and still won the round, but his cardio has to be on point if he wants to beat barzola. Barzola is kind of average everywhere, but makes every fight closer than it needs to be by having insane durability, great wrestling (honestly very good wrestling imo), and never ending cardio. Pretty much every fight hes lost has been a razor thin decision & you could make the argument he won. Another important thing to note is this is not the first time barzola has fought a scary Russian. He arguably beat movsar, and was starting to slightly turn the tide against magomedov before being finished. Now, I think Timur is much better everywhere but this is going to be a tough fight for him. He can easily outbox barzola, but if he cracks him it's going to get difficult because barzola will eat it and keep moving forward no matter what. The wrestling is also interesting because I don't think Timur will be able to hold him down for long. Sure, he can score takedowns and probably even beat barzola to most positions, but that requires a ton of energy. And Im not saying Timur will gas out exclusively because of the weichel fight, but barzola has made cardio machines like Borics very tired. I think Timur is the better fighter, and he may very well win, but I don't think he is going to look as dominant as the odds will have him.

Yamauchi vs. Koreshkov
Goiti Yamauchi, SUB, R2
Dissapointed by koreskhkovs last fight; I should have listened to you all when you said he was washed lol. Hes still got some skills but definitely isn’t the killer we all thought he was in bellator. Hes getting another tough out here in goiti. I have long thought goiti as one of the best guys bellator had; he is a high level grappler but has improved his striking a lot. Koreshkov has always been a good striker, but he has lost a lot of the pop and explosivity he used to have. If goiti gets him down, I think koreshkov will get finished, he looked really bad on the ground against umalatov.

Kamaka III vs. Carvalho
Pedro Carvalho, DEC
Going with the dog here. Carvalho has a terrible record but actually has some skills. His 13-9 record is due mostly in part to his chin (it’s glass) and very bad matchups; Bellator and pfl have tried to kill him lol. Kamaka is a solid fighter but he couldn’t finish a sandwhich if his life depended on it. Now, Pedro is not a great fighter but if you aren’t chinning him he can make things difficult. Kamaka is well rounded and young, so maybe he pulls this off but I’ve never been that high on him. He did look great against bubba, but bubba has a lot of quit in him these days and is washed. Kamaka may very well win, but I don’t think he will look like 97% implied. If Kamaka chins Pedro, then it’s time to hang em up

Madge vs. Gracie
Don Madge, TKO, R1
This is a weird one, I feel madge may try to wrestle here which would make things complicated. If he keeps it standing, it should be a wash. Gracie has trash standup and it’s never improved. Honestly a suspect chin too, even Logan storely hurt him. Madge has pretty powerful striking but does prefer to point fight. Gracie doesn’t have good wrestling to get it down, so he will likely resort to pulling guard. I doubt Madge is dumb enough to engage there but who knows. I don’t feel great about this pick, but pure bjj as a style is starting to die out in mma

Borics vs. Johns
Ádám Borics, TKO, R2
Why did they bring johns into the tourney if they want to get rid of him? I think he’s great vut he is undersized and also getting awful matchups. Johns is a very good grappler but kind of average everywhere else. Borics grappling is a little sus to me but it is serviceable (if johns gets takedowns this will get interesting tho). On the feet I don’t think it’s that close, Borics pushes an insane pace and has really clean hands; never seen barzola rocked so badly before. Johns is stiff on the feet and I really think Borics is going to put it on him

Juusola vs. Po****
Luca Po****, SUB, R1
Never been too impressed with po**** but juusola can’t keep getting away with wins here. He fought a gas bag on pfl challenger series, then went life and death with b jenks, who is a human punching bag. Po**** is at least a real fighter with a pulse, so he should win

Oliver vs. Hokit
Isaiah Hokit, TKO, R2
Love this matchmaking. Both early in their careers but both very good wrestlers. On paper, Oliver is the better wrestler and it’s not really that close; one nearly made he Olympics while the other barely accomplished much on a mid d1 team. That being said, this isn’t wrestling. While he is a better athlete and wrestler, Oliver is also 33 and has barely any experience. I can’t take too much from his debut; he won as expected but fought the definition of a pushover. I mean the guy tapped to an arm triangle on the wrong side, like cmon. Hokit was on the receiving end of one of the worst Bellator debuts ever; getting sparked in 10 seconds by a can. However, he has looked a lot better since then. His level of comp is abysmal, but he had at least been getting experience & has looked great. I’m going with Hokit because his standup is better, and we’ve seen him tested and at least know he has cardio. Maybe JO shows me something cool but going with the more proven guy for now

Diamond vs. Perez
Tyler Diamond, DEC
Awesome matchmaking here. Both guys are very similar, great grapplers who never accept a position and always hsve that dog in them. Diamond is the better wrestler but Perez is the better grappler. Striking is pretty even, I think I favor Perez since I’ve seen Diamond get wobbled by nearly every one; that being said, I was very impressed with his standup improvements against that last guy. Wouldn’t be shocked by an upset, I like Perez a lot.

Larkin vs. Domínguez
Lorenz Larkin, DEC
Disappointed to see this was who they gave Larkin, but after looking through his record he doesn’t seem that terrible. Obviously not great but not a tin can. Lorenz should win but he has slowed a lot. He also can’t use elbows (his best weapon by far) so that is going to impact his game a lot. I expect a very boring decision win