With all set for the historic launch of its highly anticipated Africa league on Saturday, July 19 at Grand Arena, GrandWest in Cape Town, South Africa, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) global powerhouse, Professional Fighters League (PFL) has unveiled the date and venue for its second event on the continent.
The first global MMA event ever hosted on the continent, PFL Africa will return to South Africa with its second event on Saturday, August 9 at the Big Top Arena, Carnival City in Johannesburg with high stakes bouts in the Welterweight and Featherweight divisions as the inaugural tournament continues toward crowning the first-ever PFL Africa Champions.
Headlining the evening are two of the best West African MMA athletes; Nigeria’s Patrick Ocheme (6-1) who will clash with Guinea’s Mohamed Camara (5-2-1) in a Featherweight First Round bout. In the co-main event, Angola’s Shido Boris Esperanca (9-1), who was victorious in his PFL debut, returns to action against Gambia’s Ibrahima Mané (14-5) in a Welterweight First Round bout.
While additional matchups for the Johannesburg event will be announced subsequently, tickets for the bouts will go on sale Thursday, June 12 through South African ticketing platform TicketPro, PFL said in a release on Tuesday.
PFL Africa’s second event will take place three weeks after the inaugural tournament in Cape Town. The inaugural night bouts will feature 18 top African athletes entering the PFL SmartCage as they begin their journey to become maiden PFL Africa Champions.
Among the 18 MMA stars on the starting block are three Cameroonians: Maxwell Djantou Nana, Jashell Ticha Awa and Alain Majorique. With 6-1 professional record, Nana will take on Cote d’Ivoire’s Mikael Groguhe who owns a 6-2 record, in a Heavyweight battle of heavy-handed finishers while Awa (3-1) will battle it out with son of the soil Justin Clarke (2-0).
Alain Majorique on his part will face Simbarashe Hokonya from Zimbabwe in a highly anticipated Bantamweight bout. Both Majorique and Hokonya own 5-0 fight records.
In total, 32 athletes representing 15 different African countries will compete across four divisions in 2025 to become first-ever PFL Africa Champions. All fights will be broadcast live on SuperSport for English speaking African audience and on Canal+ for French speaking African audience.
