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The Professional Fighters League (PFL) announced that PFL10, a 12-bout card that will serve as the penultimate event in the League’s inaugural season, will be held on October 20 at the brand new Entertainment and Sports Arena in Congress Heights, a residential neighborhood in southeast Washington, D.C. PFL10 marks the first combat sports event to ever take place in the Entertainment and Sports Arena and will feature middleweight and welterweight fighters competing in a bracket-style playoff format. Fighters will have to win two bouts in one night to move on to the December 31 championship event in New York.
Tickets for the PFL10 playoff event are available now. Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com and PFLmma.com.
“It has been a great year for the Professional Fighters League. We are extremely excited to bring PFL10 to Washington, D.C., the first ever sporting event at the city’s new Entertainment and Sports Arena,” said Carlos Silva, PFL League President. “With our innovative format, the League continues to make MMA history, and this bracket is sure to provide some incredible action as these guys compete for millions of dollars and a chance to become PFL champion.”
“This is a transformational moment for the Congress Heights community and the District of Columbia,” said Greg O’Dell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Events DC. “The continued momentum for the Entertainment and Sports Arena since our launch has been outstanding. With organizations such as the PFL involved, it has truly been a success and we look forward to working with them in the future to elevate both the venue and surrounding area.”
At the conclusion of PFL10, two fighters in each of the middleweight and welterweight divisions will qualify for the December 31 championship event, where the winner in each weight-class will be crowned PFL champion and earn the coveted $1 million top-prize. Fighters slated to compete in Washington, D.C. include top-seeds Abus Magomedov and Ray Cooper III as well as future Hall of Famer Jake Shields and veteran slugger Rick Story.
“The welterweight and middleweight divisions are wide open,” said Ray Sefo, PFL President of Fighting Operations. “Both Magomedov and Cooper were outstanding in getting the top seeds but there are a lot of hungry guys in each weigh-class and I’m sure we are going to see a lot of guys fighting their hearts out for a chance to go the finals.”
The 2018 PFL season featured 126 fights on Thursday nights in seven regular-season events, bracket-style “win-or-go-home” playoffs, and a $10 million post-season prize pool—the largest prize pool in the history of MMA. The season began with 12 athletes in each of six different weight-classes. Eight fighters from each class have earned their way into the playoff round, and one fighter in each division will earn the ultimate title of champion.
U.S.-based and international fans will be able to watch all of the 2018 PFL Playoffs and Championship fights for free. In the United States, all three post-season season events will air live on Friday or Saturday in primetime exclusively on NBCSN, and stream live on NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and pflmma.com. Outside the U.S., Facebook will stream up to six hours of free, live coverage for each event. In the U.S., fans can watch the first three hours of coverage of each event on Facebook.
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