Bracketology: PFL 2025 Bantamweight, Women’s Flyweight World Tournaments

Professional Fighters League’s 2025 World Tournament rolled on Friday night with the women’s flyweight and men’s bantamweight brackets kicking off. For the first time in PFL’s history, it hosted a men’s bantamweight division and there were plenty of fireworks to open up the weight class on the first night of action.

With a flurry of matchup changes and a new PFL 2025 World Tournament: First Round 2 main event in Leandro Higo taking on Marcirley Alves, the night was full of upsets and surprises throughout both brackets. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship talent Jake Hadley also made headlines with a wild submission victory in his SmartCage debut.

Here’s a look at updated brackets following opening round action in the men’s bantamweight and women’s flyweight tournaments, which went from eight fighters down to four.

Here's the updated #PFLWorldTournament women's flyweight bracket: pic.twitter.com/sAE1lvRLOh

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) April 12, 2025

Women’s Flyweight:

Jena Bishop vs. Ekaterina Shakalova: Bishop came into the tournament looking for vengeance after being eliminated last season by eventual champion Dakota Ditcheva. Bishop would face veteran Kana Watanabe in what was an exciting back-and-forth contest. Bishop, a known submission-specialist, showed vast improvement in the striking department in her win. The two would fight to a judges’ decision, which awarded Bishop the victory by a unanimous decision.

Shakalova may have scored the biggest upset, not only of the tournament, but of the year thus far in women’s MMA, defeating former Bellator MMA champion Juliana Velasquez in the first round. During the media day press conference, Shakalova said she wanted to prove she was the best wrestler in the tournament, and her grappling paved the way for the upset submission victory.

Fighters only get one shot! Watch the PFL World Tournament LIVE Friday, April 18 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+.

Elora Dana vs. Liz Carmouche: Dana kicked off the event and wasted no time. Dana took on Diana Avsaragova, who had not competed since 2023 and the Brazilian took it to her. Getting a neck crank submission in the late stages of the first round, Dana improved her record to 8-0 and is now matched up with a pioneer of women’s combat sports.

Carmouche entered stating that she had a bucket list of finishes that she wanted to accomplish this year, and checked one off her list in the first fight. Taking on Ilara Joanne in the opening round, Carmouche came out extremely aggressive and delivered a punishing beatdown on Joanne. Ending the fight with a TKO via body shots, Carmouche delivered a flurry of elbows and punches to her opponent’s side and came away with the early victory.

#PFLWorldTournament updated bantamweight bracket: pic.twitter.com/3Nert7xgY8

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) April 12, 2025

Men’s Bantamweight:

Justin Wetzell vs. Mando Gutierrez: In a night that was full of surprises, both Wetzell and Gutierrez came out on top after being the betting underdogs. Wetzell was not short of confidence coming into his matchup against Kasum Kasumov, and showed. Using his wrestling and up-tempo pace, Wetzell was able to nullify a lot of the offense from Kasumov and picked up the unanimous decision victory.

Gutierrez heard everything his opponent Francesco Nuzzi had to say about their fight, and silenced the opposition. Nuzzi doubted Gutierrez and his ability to outperform him anywhere in the bout, but Gutierrez, battered and bloody all over, got the tilt to the ground and choked out Nuzzi to advance to the semifinals.

Jake Hadley vs. Marcirley Alves: Hadley’s PFL promotional debut could not have gone any better, as he made a major statement in his opening-round victory. Facing who he believed was one of the most dangerous fighters in the tournament in Mateus Mattos, Hadley pulled off an incredible twister submission to the delight of many in the arena, including the broadcast team who were in awe of Hadley’s performance.

Continuing the theme of upsets, Alves took the bout on short notice against Leandro Higo and put on a pace that Higo could not catch up with throughout their 15 minute battle. While leg kicks were most effective for Higo, Alves negated a lot of the takedown attempt and landed powerful punches. Recording an early knockdown helped pave the way for Alves to get the upset victory and advance to a semis against Hadley.