Bracketology: PFL 2025 Light Heavyweight, Heavyweight World Tournaments

The First Round Of the 2025 #PFLWorldTournament has been nothing but STRAIGHT ACTION ✅

The Light Heavyweight & Heavyweights were no different tonight 😤

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PFL World Tournament 4 | Full Fight Highlights pic.twitter.com/oYuJy47R0j

— PFL (@PFLMMA) May 2, 2025

The fourth and final opening round event of the 2025 PFL World Tournament took place on Thursday night with light heavyweights and heavyweights closing out the show. There were many veterans who took the spotlight and two young names that put the 205-pound bracket on notice with their elite finishes.

With the completion of both brackets, all semifinal matchups are set to take place in June across three separate events. Here are updated brackets after the opening round.

Here's the updated #PFLWorldTournament heavyweight bracket pic.twitter.com/rla4Dm4ETy

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) May 2, 2025

Rodrigo Nascimento vs. Oleg Popov

It’ll be a battle of two winners who got their hand raised in split-decision contests. In the opening fight on the card, Nascimento was able to stall out Abrahm Bably and negate a lot of his offense, while turning up his own effort in the second round. Despite having his nose busted open, Nascimento became much more active in the final two frames and was able to pull out the close decision.

Russia’s Popov faced Karl Williams, who was a short-notice replacement for Linton Vassell, and it was the wrestling that led Popov to victory. In the first round Popov landed three takedowns, but Williams would start to defend well in the second and third stanzas. Popov would secure a total of five takedowns and those were enough to get him the victory.

Alexander Romanov vs. Valentin Moldavsky

In his first appearance with the Professional Fighters League after a run in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Romanov made quick work of veteran Tim Johnson. After going 7-3 in the UFC, Romanov would look to establish his control in the SmartCage by pressing forward on Johnson, who answered by bringing in his own pressure but was caught in a choke. Romanov would quickly wrap up a standing guillotine choke, which appeared to have injured Johnson, who tapped quickly and was seen holding his rib on the mat.

Moldavsky had quite an interesting matchup against fellow Russian Sergey Bilostenniy, in what was the most head-scratching decision of the night. Bilostenniy was the more aggressive fighter in all three rounds, delivering more damage than Moldavsky. But in the end, it was the former interim Bellator MMA champion Moldavsky who was given the unanimous decision victory. There was plenty of controversy around the judges’ decision, but Moldavsky moves on to the Semifinals.

Here's the updated #PFLWorldTournament 205-pound bracket pic.twitter.com/oHp8v6naoS

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) May 2, 2025

Antonio Carlos Jr. vs. Simeon Powell

After finding plenty of success on the PFL Europe stage, Powell is now on the global roster and made his presence felt against Karl Albrektsson. In Round 1, Albrektsson controlled most of the action in the clinch, stalling out Powell’s offense, who turned it around in a big way in the second period. Powell was able to create space and poured down huge shots on Albrektsson up against the fence with elbows and the barrage would lead to a second-round TKO.

Carlos Jr. faced former Bellator Champions Series challenger Karl Moore with plenty of efficient grappling and wrestling throughout all three rounds. There was not much damage coming out of the grappling, and Moore was more punishing in the striking department, but in the end it was “Shoe Face” who picked up the split-decision victory.

Sullivan Cauley vs. Phil Davis

Cauley was out of action for over a year, as he recovered from injuries and awaited an opportunity after the PFL purchased the Bellator roster in 2024, and delivered in a big way in his first fight. Taking on Alex Polizzi as he had an opponent change on fight day, Cauley was taken down and held against the cage, and it would be the beginning of an unfortunate ending for Polizzi. With his back up against the fence, Cauley landed several big elbows to the head and he would close the show with a few punches for good measure.

It was a battle of former champs in the main event, former Bellator king Davis faced former PFL ace Rob Wilkinson. Australia’s Wilkinson looked sharp in the first round. It wouldn’t take long for the course of the fight to change in the second, as Davis came out much more aggressive and stormed forward with big punches and to close the show early into the second round. Davis’ corner called for more aggression in between rounds and the former champion listened, stamping his ticket to the semifinals.