3/14/25: Jeremy Stephens Booked For Unexpected UFC Return
Also: PFL announces first-round matchups, results from Combate Global, a preview of today's shows, and much more!
Welcome to a Friday edition of the Knockdown Daily! Today’s issue has a quick recap of the latest MMA headlines: We have some news about UFC’s first-ever card in Des Moines, more details about PFL’s first burst of events this year, plus tons of more smaller tidbits in the notes section. Lots to discuss, so let’s get to it!
Jeremy Stephens Booked For Unexpected UFC Return At Des Moines ‘Fight Night’
UFC confirmed its first-ever trip to the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, USA this week, with a shocking return as part of the event’s lineup.
Des Moines’ own Jeremy Stephens will appear on a UFC card for the first time in nearly four years, meeting Mason Jones in a lightweight matchup.
While Stephens is best known for his UFC career—which has seen him appear 34 times, making him the sixth-most experienced talent in the promotion’s history—he’s returning to the brand after being featured all around the combat sports world.
Stephens left the UFC roster on a sour note in 2022, alleging that he was getting “iced out” by the promotion: “Only fighting once a year, that’s not good on the bank account … I’ve done everything for that company and I don’t feel like they had my back in return in giving me a favorable matchup,” Stephens told The MMA Hour following his departure.
He appeared as part of the 2022 PFL season, marking his first non-UFC appearance in over a decade. While he had an unsuccessful run in the brand overall, a split decision win over Myles Price snapped a lengthy seven-fight losing streak he had obtained in prior years.
Stephens moved into the world of crossover boxing events by 2023, fighting on the undercards of shows headlined by names like Jake Paul, Nate Diaz, and Roy Jones Jr. He fought to a draw against Jose Aldo (who has also returned to the UFC since) and lost to Chris Avila.
Then, in his most successful venture since leaving the UFC, Stephens became a breakout star in bare-knuckle boxing promotion BKFC. He obtained three wins for the brand since late 2023, beating fellow seasoned MMA vets under the unique no-glove ruleset. His last appearance, a stoppage win over ex-UFC champ Eddie Alvarez, headlined the promotion’s “Knuckle Mania” card at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The upcoming fight is a long-awaited homecoming for Stephens, who hasn’t fought in Des Moines since he was a regional MMA prospect.
Jones has a similar story to Stephens in the upcoming fight, returning to the UFC after some time away from the company. While Jones had an unsuccessful UFC run a few years back—obtaining just one win through four appearances—he’s back in the promotion after a stretch of four consecutive victories in European regional tour Cage Warriors.
Iowa Gets First Fight Card Since The New Millennium
The upcoming card will mark the UFC’s first trip to the state of Iowa since UFC 21 back in 1999. While they have made two past trips to Cedar Rapids, the roughly 214,000 residents of Des Moines will get their first-ever “Fight Night” card as part of the upcoming show.
Along with the return of Stephens, UFC also confirmed a previously reported headliner between Cory Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueiredo. Here’s an updated look at the card:
Bout 11: Cory Sandhagen (17-5) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (24-4-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 10: Marina Rodriguez (17-5-2) vs. Gillian Robertson (15-8) (Strawweight)
Bout 9: Santiago Ponzinibbio (30-8) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (18-5) (Welterweight)
Bout 8: Yana Santos (15-8) vs. Miesha Tate (20-9) (Bantamweight)
Bout 7: Marlon Vera (23-10-1) vs. Mario Bautista (15-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Reinier de Ridder (19-2) vs. Bo Nickal (7-0) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Lee Jeong-yeong (11-2) vs. Trevor Peek (9-3) (Featherweight)
Bout 4: Cameron Smotherman (12-4) vs. Serhiy Sidey (11-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 3: Junior Tafa (6-3) vs. Tuco Tokkos (10-5) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 2: Azamat Bekoev (19-3) vs. Ryan Loder (7-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 1: Jeremy Stephens (29-21) vs. Mason Jones (15-2) (Lightweight)
PFL Reveals Opening Round Lineups For 2025 ‘World Tournament’
The brackets have been set for PFL’s first-ever single-elimination season in North America.
Four weeks of first-round action in the 2025 PFL World Tournament will kick off April 3rd, with all the quarter-final fights taking place at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, USA.
The upcoming events see PFL move away from the two-part schedule that they had been utilizing since 2018, with fighters competing in a “season” before moving into a bracket.
In previous years, competitors would battle in a two-fight “regular season,” with the top talents then being moved into a four-person, single-elimination playoffs.
Instead, this time, the brackets are all single-elimination from the start, giving talent a three-fight path to winning the grand prize of $500,000.
The first week of action will see two divisions PFL has hosted since its inaugural season—featherweight and welterweight—compete. In the main event of the night, recent Bellator Welterweight Champion Jason Jackson will take on Russian vet Andrey Koreshkov.
The co-main event of the show will see 2023 PFL featherweight champ Jesus Pinedo make his return against Adam Borics.
A week later, men’s bantamweight will make its PFL debut alongside the returning women’s flyweight class as part of an April 11th card. Bellator vets Magomed Magomedov and Leandro Higo will face off in the main event, with Magomedov appearing for the first time since a 2024 title loss to Patchy Mix.
Just before that headliner, last year’s flyweight finalist and former UFC title challenger Taila Santos will look to bounce back against Juliana Velasquez.
Finishing up a three-week stretch for PFL events, the middleweight class will return for the first time since 2018 on an April 18th card alongside lightweight fighters. In the main event, 2023 light heavyweight champ Impa Kasanganay will meet two-time Bellator title challenger Fabian Edwards.
The headlining fight is a chance for both to get back into the win column: Kasanganay was denied two-time champ status in the finals last year, and Edwards is returning after a loss to champ Johnny Eblen.
In a rematch from 2022, Alexander Shabliy and Brent Primus will face off in the co-main spot.
And finally, PFL’s heavyweight and light heavyweight classes will be showcased as part of a May 1st card.
The return of 13-fight UFC vet and former Bellator champ Phil Davis against 2022 PFL champ Rob Wilkinson will go down in the headlining spot. Davis will be making his first appearance since a 2023 split decision loss to Corey Anderson. Wilkinson is coming back after losing in the semi-finals of last year’s light heavyweight bracket.
At heavyweight, Russian contenders Valentin Moldavsky and Sergey Bilostenniy will meet in the co-main spot.
Here’s an updated look at PFL’s schedule:
PFL Opening Round Night 1 – 4/3/25
Bout 10: Jason Jackson (18-5) vs. Andrey Koreshkov (28-5) (PFL Welterweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 9: Jesus Pinedo (23-6-1) vs. Adam Borics (19-2) (PFL Featherweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 8: Magomed Umalatov (17-1) vs. Logan Storley (16-3) (PFL Welterweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 7: Jeremy Kennedy (19-5) vs. Movlid Khaybulaev (21-0-1) (PFL Featherweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 6: Mukhamed Berkhamov (17-2) vs. Florim Zendeli (10-1-1) (PFL Welterweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 5: Gabriel Braga (15-2) vs. Yves Landu (21-9) (PFL Featherweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 4: Giannis Bachar (9-2) vs. Masayuki Kikuiri (10-2-1) (PFL Welterweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 3: Nathan Kelly (11-3) vs. Kim Tae-kyun (10-1) (PFL Featherweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 2: Joseph Luciano (10-2) vs. Thad Jean (8-2) (PFL Welterweight Reserve Bout)
Bout 1: Frederik Dupras (8-1) vs. Nathan Ghareeb (10-3) (PFL Featherweight Reserve Bout)
PFL Opening Round Night 2 – 4/11/25
Bout 10: Magomed Magomedov (20-4) vs. Leandro Higo (23-6) (PFL Bantamweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 9: Taila Santos (22-4) vs. Juliana Velasquez (13-3) (PFL Flyweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 8: Sarvarjon Khamidov (16-0) vs. Jake Hadley (11-4) (PFL Bantamweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 7: Ciaran Clarke (10-0) vs. Kasum Kasumov (16-1) (PFL Bantamweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 6: Jena Bishop (7-2) vs. Kana Watanabe (13-3-1) (PFL Flyweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 5: Liz Carmouche (22-8) vs. Ilara Joanne (12-9) (PFL Flyweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 4: Ali Taleb (12-1) vs. Zebenzui Ruiz (12-3) (PFL Bantamweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 3: Elora Dana (7-0) vs. Diana Avsaragova (6-1) (PFL Flyweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 2: Francesco Nuzzi (10-1) vs. Matheus Mattos (14-3-1) (PFL Bantamweight Reserve Bout)
Bout 1: Ekaterina Shakalova (8-2) vs. Saray Orozco (8-6) (PFL Flyweight Reserve Bout)
PFL Opening Round Night 3 – 4/18/25
Bout 10: Impa Kasanganay (18-5) vs. Fabian Edwards (PFL Middleweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 9: Alexander Shabliy (24-4) vs. Brent Primus (15-4) (PFL Lightweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 8: Gadzhi Rabadanov (24-4-2) vs. Marc Diakiese (18-7) (PFL Lightweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 7: Mads Burnell (20-6) vs. Jay Jay Wilson (10-1) (PFL Lightweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 6: Dalton Rosta (9-1) vs. Sadibou Sy (17-8-2) (PFL Middleweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 5: Josh Silveira (13-4) vs. Mike Shipman (17-4) (PFL Middleweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 4: Clay Collard (25-14) vs. Alfie Davis (17-5-1) (PFL Lightweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 3: Aaron Jeffery (15-5) vs. Murad Ramazanov (12-2) (PFL Middleweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 2: Khalid Murtazaliev (17-3) vs. Jordan Newman (7-0) (PFL Middleweight Reserve Bout)
Bout 1: Sergio Cossio (27-10-1) vs. Robert Watley (15-3) (PFL Lightweight Reserve Bout)
PFL Opening Round Night 4 – 5/1/25
Bout 9: Phil Davis (24-7) vs. Rob Wilkinson (19-3) (PFL Light Heavyweight Quarter Final)
Bout 8: Valentin Moldavsky (13-4) vs. Sergey Bilostenniy (13-3) (PFL Heavyweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 7: Antonio Carlos Junior (16-6) vs. Karl Moore (12-3) (PFL Light Heavyweight Quarter Final)
Bout 6: Karl Albrektsson (14-6) vs. Simeon Powell (10-1) (PFL Light Heavyweight Quarter Final)
Bout 5: Sullivan Cauley (6-1) vs. Marcelo Nunes (11-2) (PFL Light Heavyweight Quarter Final)
Bout 4: Alex Polizzi (11-4) vs. Rafael Xaiver (13-8) (PFL Light Heavyweight Reserve Bout)
Bout 3: Alexandr Romanov (18-3) vs. Tim Johnson (18-11) (PFL Heavyweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 2: Linton Vassell (25-10) vs. Oleg Popov (19-2) (PFL Heavyweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 1: Pouya Rahmani (4-0) vs. Abraham Bably (5-1) (PFL Heavyweight Quarter-Final)
PFL Semi-Final Round Night 1 – 6/12/25
PFL Semi-Final Round Night 2 – 6/20/25
PFL Semi-Final Round Night 3 – 6/27/25
PFL Grand Finals Night 1 – 8/1/25
PFL Grand Finals Night 2 – 8/15/25
PFL Grand Finals Night 3 – 8/21/25
Paul Hughes Set For Homecoming Fight At May 10th PFL Europe Card
PFL will kick off its third European season with a card featuring one of its top stars from the region.
Belfast-raised contender Paul Hughes will headline the promotion’s return to the SSE Arena on May 10th against Brazilian vet Bruno Miranda, per a recent announcement from the promotion.
Hughes will be coming back for the first time since losing a razor-thin five-round majority decision result against Usman Nurmagomedov for the Bellator Lightweight Championship in January.
“Big News” spent less than a year in the PFL before ascending to a title opportunity. After a successful run in European promotion Cage Warriors, Hughes set himself up for a shot against Nurmagomedov by stopping Bellator vet Bobby King and getting past former champ AJ McKee Jr.
Now appearing after his first loss since late 2020, Hughes will meet a fighter who is coming off two years on PFL’s main tour.
Miranda fought in the PFL lightweight season from 2023 to 2024. He made it to the playoff round in his rookie run on the tour, getting into the semi-finals after back-to-back decision wins. However, he didn’t reach the finals after getting stopped by Olivier Aubin-Mercier.
A year later, Miranda wouldn’t qualify for the playoffs after going one-for-two in the season, getting submitted by Brent Primus but later bouncing back with a split decision over Patricky Pitbull.
The 34-year-old will be heading into enemy territory when he meets Hughes later this year.
It’s expected that PFL’s year-long European tournaments will kick off on the show, although no further information about the show has been provided just yet.
For the past two years, PFL has hosted four single-elimination, eight-fighter brackets as part of its European tour. In 2024, the featured weight classes were men’s welterweight, lightweight, bantamweight, and women’s flyweight.
Notes On: Today’s Events, UFC, ONE Championship, LFA & Combate Global
Previews
While the fight week was scheduled to kick off with a Cage Warriors title clash in Manchester, England, the promotion recently announced that plans have changed. Today’s Cage Warriors 184 card will proceed without its lightweight championship headliner, as challenger Lucas Clay (10-3) has sustained an injury that forced him to withdraw from a five-round clash against George Hardwick (13-2). The fight has now fallen through on two different instances, first being targeted for a show in March of 2024. Friday’s eight-fight card will instead be headlined by a fight that sees undefeated U.S. finisher Anthony Orozco (5-0) take on veteran Andrey Augusto (17-8-1). Orozco has put together dazzling stoppages since debuting under the Cage Warriors banner in 2023, although most wins have come against fighters of similar experience levels. He now takes on Augusto, a veteran of more than two dozen pro fights who is coming off a win from a regional show in Russia. Prelims will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET, with the main card starting an hour later. All action will be streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
Unlike today’s action in England, the major fights for tonight’s CFFC card in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have remained fully intact. This evening’s card from the 2300 Arena will have a special three-round main event attraction, where Bellator vets Yaroslav Amosov (27-1) and Curtis Millender (21-10) face off. The fight will be 31-year-old Amosov’s first appearance since losing his Bellator Welterweight Championship to Jason Jackson in 2023, ending a 27-fight undefeated record. Millender has fought around the regionals for years and is coming off back-to-back losses against experienced fighters from last year. Before the high-level main event, it’s expected that lightweight prospects Jesse Roberts (8-1) and Omar Rzgoev (4-0) will battle it out for a vacant CFFC title. Prelim action will begin at 7 p.m. ET on the CFFC Onlyfans page. At 9 p.m. ET, the main card will air on UFC Fight Pass.
UFC
ESPN+ had massive tech issues during UFC 313 last weekend, preventing viewers from ordering the pay-per-view after it started around 10 p.m. ET. The issue was resolved before the main event but reportedly left TKO brass “furious” and has caused ESPN+ to offer a free replay of the event for all subscribers.
Word got out last weekend that Jalin Turner (14-9) had decided to retire at 29, shortly after his UFC 313 loss to Ignacio Bahamondes. His interview with Sportnet’s Aaron Bronsteter best illustrates why he decided to step away: “It’s hard, fighting is hard, and I’ve been doing it for 12 years,” he said. “You either gotta be all in or not. Even being in here now, I wasn’t fully all in as I thought I would be. The decision to stay or not was honestly based on this fight for me … My kids are getting older, I don’t want to keep taking damage. Training camps are hard. Life has really been taking a toll for the last 11 months. Just need to step away for a little bit, maybe forever.”
A pair of other notable fights were announced for UFC’s Des Moines card this week:
Former two-division ONE champ Reinier de Ridder (19-2) will look to try and hand decorated wrestler Bo Nickal (7-0) his first pro loss. De Ridder has earned a pair of stoppage wins since entering the UFC in November. His last outing was particularly impressive, stopping Kevin Holland within a round via rear naked choke. But now he will try and do what nobody else has done before, that being defeat Nickal. The three-time NCAA Division I champ picked up his fourth UFC win in November, beating veteran Paul Craig on scorecards in a fight that was dominant but not entertaining enough to win over the live crowd.
Both coming off recent wins, Daniel Rodriguez (18-5) and Santiago Ponzinibbio (30-8) have been matched up. Rodriguez crucially put an end to a three-fight skid in October, beating Alex Morono in a split decision. Ponzinibbio similarly bounced back from a pair of losses when he earned a finish win against Carlston Harris early this year.
Two more fights have joined a May 17th UFC card recently. While the show was previously expected for Qatar, Marcel Dorff recently reported that the promotion has shifted the event to the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card has yet to be officially announced by the promotion. Anyway, the new fights:
Undefeated light heavyweight Azamat Murzakanov (14-0) will meet Johnny Walker (21-9), per Nolan King and Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie. Murzakanov has pieced together four wins since making his UFC debut in 2022. After more than a year out of the cage, he won his return last August with a second-round stoppage of Alonzo Menifield. 14-fight UFC vet Walker will be trying to earn his first win in over two years, coming back after a pair of finish losses in 2024.
Rising bantamweight Tainara Lisboa (7-2) will look for her third UFC win when she meets Luana Santos (8-2), per social media posts made by both fighters. Lisboa has been out of the cage for more than a year, with her last fights dating back to her rookie year in the UFC. The Brazilian had a strong start to her run, submitting Jessica-Rose Clark and beating Ravena Oliveira on scorecards. She’s now back against Santos, who had a three-fight UFC winning streak brought to a halt when she fought Casey O’Neill last summer.
ONE Championship
A pair of Muay Thai title fights have been announced for ONE Fight Night 30, which will go down on April 4th from the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. In the main event, Roman Krylia will put his heavyweight Muay Thai title on the line against promotional newcomer Lyndon Knowles. While Krylia is best known for his run as a kickboxing champ in ONE, he became their inaugural 265-pound Muay Thai champ in late 2023 when he stopped Alex Roberts in the second round. After not competing in 2024, he returns against a prominent striker from the U.K. scene. Knowles, a head coach at the well-known Knowlesy Academy—the main gym of ONE stand-out Jonathan Haggerty—is coming over to ONE after gaining numerous notable accomplishments, including WBC’s heavyweight Muay Thai belt.
In the co-main event, Regian Eersel will face Alexis Nicolas in a trilogy fight for the promotion’s 170-pound kickboxing title. After the duo faced off in a pair of competitive 2024 title fights—with Nicolas ending Eersel’s 1,786-day reign in the first meeting before Eersel regained the title a few months later—the rivalry will get its possible finale just under a year after they first met.
Quick correction to Monday’s newsletter: Xiong Jing Nan and Meng Bo are facing off under MMA rules on today’s ONE Fight Nights 100 card, not Muay Thai. If you want to watch, you can catch the feed here on Youtube with a start time of 8:30 a.m. ET.
LFA
LFA will crown a new bantamweight champion on March 28th when Vinicius Pires (10-1) and Lion Abojer (11-2) face off in Brasilia, Brazil. Pires has been on a roll for years, including four consecutive LFA wins since 2023 against similar prospect-level talents. Argentina’s Abojer won his promotional debut last July, adding a fifth consecutive rear naked choke win to his record when he submitted Apollo Gomes. LFA has been without a bantamweight champ since July 2024, when John Sweeney had to vacate his title due to a weight miss.
A few interesting prospects have been added to lower in the lineup. Former Bellator talent Manoel Sousa (11-1) will look to bounce back from his sole pro loss when he faces Lucas Barros (8-2-1). Sousa had his 11-fight undefeated record brought to an end when he lost to fellow rising star Archie Colgan in September. The card will also feature rising strawweight Gabriela Fujimoto (6-0).
Combate Global
Combate Global, a Latin America-focused MMA promotion based out of Florida, returned for its first show in over half a year on Thursday night from Univision Studios. The promotion’s first show back, “Combate Female,” included a few notable headlines:
Interim WBC Flyweight Champion and former WBO champ Kenia Enriquez (1-0) won her MMA debut, taking a unanimous decision victory over Hayley Valentine (5-1). Enriquez, who boasts a 28-1 record in boxing, unsurprisingly used her striking skills to drop Valentine numerous times and gain an early lead on scorecards. She had to battle adversity late before earning the decision, fending off submission attempts for most of the third frame.
Former Invicta FC fighter Kate Bacik (6-2) scored a crafty win in the main event, surviving an early knockdown against Maritza Sanchez (6-2) to later secure a kneebar submission in the first round.