FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 10th, 2018

$10 MILLION PROFESSIONAL FIGHTERS LEAGUE PLAYOFFS FEATURE LIGHTWEIGHT & LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISIONS THIS SAT., OCT. 13, LIVE AT 9 PM ET ON NBCSN

16 Fighters – Eight Lightweights & Eight Light Heavyweights – Face Off in PFL Quarterfinal & Semifinal Action

Lightweight No. 1-seed Natan Schulte Faces No. 8-seed Johnny Case; No. 1-seed Vinny Magalhaes takes on No. 8-seed Rakim Cleveland in Light Heavyweight Quarterfinal Action

Todd Harris Calls the Action, Joined by Randy Couture, Bas Rutten, Yves Edwards, & Reporter Caroline Pearce

STAMFORD, Conn. – October 10, 2018 – The $10 Million Professional Fighters League playoffs continue this Saturday, October 13, live at 9 p.m. ET on NBCSN from the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif. Lightweights and light heavyweights will be in action on Saturday as fighters compete in quarterfinal and semifinal bouts on the same night. By the end of the night, each division will be down to two fighters who will compete in a $1 million championship fight live from Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve.

Saturday’s show marks the second of three consecutive weeks of primetime PFL playoff action, with the welterweights and middleweights squaring off on Saturday, Oct. 20 (9 p.m. ET on NBCSN).

Fighters in contention for the semifinal round on NBCSN this Saturday night include lightweights No. 1-seed Natan Schulte (13-3-0, 2-0 PFL) and No. 8-seed Johnny Case (23-6-0, 1-0 PFL). Schulte comes off a dominant win in PFL 2 over Chris Wade, followed up with a submission of Jason High just 4:18 into the first round at PFL 5 to secure the top seed. Case is a veteran of 29 career fights with 15 knockouts.

On the light heavyweight side, No. 1-seed Vinny Magalhaes (16-9-0, 2-0 PFL) takes on No. 8-seed Rakim Cleveland (19-10-1, 1-1 PFL). Magalhaes secured the top seed in the light heavyweight division after spending just 3:11 in the cage in his two fights combined – two dominant first-round stoppages, one by submission, and one by TKO. Cleveland looks to rebound from a loss in PFL 5 to No. 2-seed Maxim Grishin, his first loss in five fights. A knockout specialist, 11 of Cleveland’s 19 wins have come by knockout.

Coverage begins with a lightweight contest between Long Island native and No. 4-seed Chris Wade (13-4-0, 1-1 PFL) and No. 5-seed Robert Watley (11-2-0, 1-1 PFL), followed by a light heavyweight bout between No. 4-seed Bozigit Ataev (18-2-0, 1-1) and No. 5-seed Emiliano Sordi (17-7-0, 1-0 PFL).

Additional quarterfinal bouts include:

Lightweights

 

No. 2 Will Brooks (20-4-0, 2-0 PFL) vs. No. 7 Rashid Magomedov (21-2-0, 1-0 PFL)

No. 3 Islam Mamedov (15-2-0, 2-0 PFL) vs. No. 6 Thiago Tavares (22-8-1, 1-1 PFL)

 

Light Heavyweights

 

No. 2 Maxim Grishin (28-7-0, 2-0 PFL) vs. No. 7 Smealinho Rama (11-4-0, 1-1 PFL)

No. 3 Dan Spohn (18-5-0, 2-0 PFL) vs. No. 6 Sean O’Connell (18-10-0, 1-1 PFL)

 

Todd Harris calls the action, joined by MMA Hall of Famers and analysts Randy Couture and Bas Rutten, alongside Yves Edwards and reporter Caroline Pearce.

The Professional Fighters League features a regular season, playoffs, and championship, and individual fighters compete in a win-and-advance postseason format. The 2018 PFL season consists of seven regular-season events, a bracket-style playoff, and a $10 million postseason prize pool.  The top eight fighters in each of the six different weight classes advance to the playoffs, with one fighter in each division earning $1 million and the title of true champion.

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