The PFL have stacked the deck ahead of Francis Ngannou’s debut for the organisation next month. 

Ngannou will take on the giant Brazilian Renan Ferreira in the main event of the October 19th card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in what will be his first bout under mixed martial arts rules since since a January 2022 win over Frenchman Ciyrl Gane in defence of his UFC heavyweight championship — a title he would later vacate after leaving the UFC following the expiration of his contract.

Following surgery to his knee to repair an injury he sustained in preparation for the Gane fight, Ngannou took a two-fight detour to the summit of heavyweight boxing where he lost out in a razor-thin split decision to then-WBC champ Tyson Fury before losing by knockout inside two rounds to Anthony Joshua earlier this year.

And in about three weeks time, Ngannou will once again find himself atop an MMA card — and as you can see below, it’s a good one.

In the co-main event, the most dominant female mixed martial artist in history, Cris Cybrog, will take on her 23-4 compatriot Larissa Pachecho, while Bellator champ Johnny Eblen will rematch Fabian Edwards. Elsewhere, Husein Kadimagomaev will fight Zafar Mohsen and the card will be opened by the recent PFL/Bellator signee, Ireland’s Paul Hughes who takes on the Bellator stalwart AJ McKee.

We talked to Hughes about this upcoming fight with McKee, which you can check out here.

PFL Battle of the Giants // October 19th. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

MAIN CARD

Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira
Cris Cyborg vs. Larissa Pacheco
Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards
Husein Kadimagomaev vs. Zafar Mohsen
A.J. McKee vs. Paul Hughes

PRELIM CARD

Raufeon Stots vs. Marcos Breno
Makkasharip Zaynukov vs. Dedrek Sanders
Ibragim Ibragimov vs. Nacho Campos
Mostafa Nada vs. Ahmed Sami
Youssef Al Housani vs. Taha Bendaoud