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Weigh-in results ahead of PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions crossover event in Riyadh

The Professional Fighters League (PFL), the fastest growing and most innovative sports league in the world, kicks 2024 off with the biggest MMA event of the year, PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions. (Supplied)
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Updated 24 February 2024
Arab News
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Weigh-in results ahead of PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions crossover event in Riyadh

  • The card includes 2 champion-versus-champion bouts; PFL Heavyweight Champ Renan ‘Problema’ Ferreira takes on Bellator Heavyweight Champ Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader
  • PFL Light Heavyweight Champ Impa ‘Tshilobo’ Kasanganay drops down to middleweight to take on Bellator Middleweight Champion Johnny Eblen
Updated 24 February 2024
Arab News

RIYADH: As the Professional Fighters League 2024 season gets underway on Saturday with what it is billing as the biggest mixed martial arts event of the year, the PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, the fighters gathered for the weigh-in on Friday.

The card feature a pair of champion-versus-champion headline bouts, as some of the biggest names in combat sports go head to head inside the PFL SmartCage.

In the main event, 2023 PFL Heavyweight Champion Renan “Problema” Ferreira will take on Bellator Heavyweight Champion Ryan “Darth” Bader.

At the weigh-in, Ferreira, who is coming off his first championship campaign in the PFL, was 263.2 lbs. Bader, who has held the Bellator title since 2019, was 231.1 lbs.

In the other headline event, 2023 PFL Light Heavyweight Champion Impa “Tshilobo” Kasanganay drops down to middleweight to take on Bellator Middleweight Champion Johnny Eblen.

Kasanganay, who captured PFL gold in his first season, weighed in at 185.8 lbs, while Eblen, who aims to maintain his undefeated career record, was 185.5 lbs.

Two of the world’s top welterweights will clash in a catchweight bout, as two-time PFL champion Ray Cooper III meets reigning Bellator Welterweight Champion Jason Jackson. Cooper III weighed in at 182.4 lbs, and Jackson at 182 lbs.

Former PFL Heavyweight Champion Bruno Cappelozza will take on Bellator’s Vadim Nemkov in a heavyweight bout. Cappelozza weighed in at 236.2 lbs, and Nemkov at 238.1 lbs.

Leading PFL contender Thiago “Maretta” Santos faces top Bellator contender Yoel “Soldier of God” Romero. The former weighed in at 205.2 lbs, and the latter at 205 lbs.

A pair of the lightweight division’s elite will also go head-to-head, as 2023 PFL runner-up “Cassius” Clay Collard takes on former Bellator Lightweight Champion A.J. “Mercenary” McKee. Collard weighed in at 155.5 lbs, and McKee at 154.8 lb.

Official PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions weigh-in results:

PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions Card: 3 pm ET

PFL Champion vs. Bellator Champion — Heavyweight

Renan Ferreira 263.2 lbs vs. Ryan Bader 231.1 lbs

PFL Champion vs. Bellator Champion — Middleweight

Impa Kasanganay 185.8 lbs vs. Johnny Eblen 185.5 lbs

Catchweight (182 lbs) Bout

Ray Cooper III 182.4 lbs vs. Jason Jackson 182 lbs

Heavyweight Bout

Bruno Cappelozza 236.2 lbs vs. Vadim Nemkov 238.1 lbs

Light Heavyweight Bout

Thiago Santos 205.2 lbs vs. Yoel Romero 205 lbs

Lightweight Bout

Clay Collard 155.5 lbs vs. AJ McKee 154.8 lbs

Early Card: 12 pm ET

Lightweight Bout

Henry Corrales 155.7 lbs. Vs. Aaron Pico: 155.7 lbs

Lightweight Bout

Biaggio Ali Walsh 155.4 lbs vs. Emmanuel Palacio 152.6 lbs

Women’s Catchweight (165 lbs) Bout

Claressa Shields 164.4 lbs vs. Kelsey DeSantis 164.6 lbs

Featherweight Bout

Abdullah Al-Qahtani 146 lbs vs. Edukondal Rao 145.7 lbs

Amateur Catchweight (129 lbs) Bout

Malik Basahel 124.9 lbs vs. Vinicius Pereira 129.2 lbs

Pereira missed weight. The bout will be contested at 129 lbs catchweight.

 

 

Topics: PFL Champions

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Russell, Antonelli lead Mercedes in one-two qualifying positions for F1’s Australian GP

Updated 07 March 2026
AP
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Russell, Antonelli lead Mercedes in one-two qualifying positions for F1’s Australian GP

  • Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order
Updated 07 March 2026
AP

MELBOURNE: Mercedes has revealed its dominant hand during qualifying for Sunday’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell earned his ninth-career pole position Saturday ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli for the team’s 83rd front-row lockout and its first since the 2024 British Grand Prix.
Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order. His pole time, at 1 minute, 18.518 seconds, was almost eight-tenths faster than the nearest non-Mercedes challenger, Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar, who completed the top three.
“It was a great day, we knew there was a lot of potential in the car, but until we get to this first Saturday of the season, you never know,” Russell said. “But it really came alive this afternoon, especially when the track temperatures cooled, we know we tend to favor those conditions.”
Antonelli was relieved to have made it onto the front row alongside his teammate after a crash in final practice at the exit of turn two meant it was a race in the Mercedes garage to get him out for qualifying.
“It’s been a very stressful day. Unfortunately, I went into the wall (in FP3),” he said. “But the guys (in the garage) were the heroes today to put the car back on track.”
Hadjar was impressive by qualifying third on debut for Red Bull, his highest-ever grid position.
“The only thing I can do is take them at the start, but they’re just too fast at the moment,” Hadjar said of Mercedes. “I want to keep my position and a second podium would be cool.”
Ferrari showed it’s neck-and-neck with McLaren on pace, with just one and a half tenths seconds covering the four drivers just beyond the top-three — with Charles Leclerc qualifying fourth, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth respectively, and Lewis Hamilton in seventh.
Racing Bulls showed they’ve taken a step forward over the winter, with New Zealander Liam Lawson eighth ahead of his highly-rated rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad.
The big surprise of the session came from four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen, who triggered red flags at Melbourne’s Albert Park after he lost control of his Red Bull car in braking for turn one in the first half of Q1 and ended in the barriers.
The Dutchman, who was unhurt from the crash, though upset that his brakes locked up, will now start from the back of the grid.
F1 heads into a new era this year, with unprecedented changes across the chassis (car) and power unit, which now feature an almost 50:50 output split between the turbo 1.6-liter V6 engine and electrical energy harvested from the brakes, one that requires a new, often counterintuitive driving style from the drivers.

Topics: F1

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