PFL president Ray Sefo happy with 2019 playoffs in Las Vegas so far, has sights set on city for 2020
LAS VEGAS – After a successful night in Las Vegas, PFL president Ray Sefo is confident fans will be seeing many more events there.
The promotion’s first event in its 2019 playoffs schedule took place this past Friday. David Michaud won two fights in one night to reach the welterweight final against Ray Cooper III. At women’s lightweight, undefeated Olympian Kayla Harrison won her semifinal bout to reach the final against Larissa Pacheco, who scored an upset win over Sarah Kaufman.
Sefo says the plan for the PFL is to do more shows in Vegas in the future.
“Vegas is always a viable market for us,” Sefo told MMA Junkie after the card at Mandalay Bay Events Center. “It’s the capital fight city of the world, and so No. 1, it’s good to be back because we haven’t had a show here in years. It’s good to be back, it’s my hometown, and there’s no place like Vegas. And I thought all the fighters, from the first fight to the last fight – I thought everybody showed up. I thought everybody came and wanted to be part of that championship round.
“All in all, I was really happy with not only the outcome of the people that turned up. I thought half of Hawaii was here. I truly believe that Vegas is the ninth island now, so it was great to see that kind of turnout and the kind of support that Ray Cooper had was really amazing.”
The finals are set to take place on Dec. 31 in New York, where fighters in six divisions will fight for not only the playoff titles for 2019, but $1 million. Sefo said next year’s finals could take place in Las Vegas.
“You never know – we would love for that to happen,” Sefo said. “But then that means the playoffs would probably be somewhere else. That being said, we would love to have the championship in Vegas, and we’ll see. If everything goes according to plan, everything works out, you never know.”