2021 PFL 5 video preview: O'Connell, Florian break down potentially crazy welterweight scenarios
The PFL continues its regular season Thursday with welterweights and light heavyweights looking to punch their tickets to the postseason.
2021 PFL 5 takes place at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. The main card airs on ESPN2 following prelims on ESPN+.
In the main event, Rory MacDonald (22-6-1) already is in good shape for a spot in the four-man playoffs after a 6-point first-round win in his promotional debut. The former Bellator champion takes on fellow UFC alumnus Gleison Tibau (34-15) to close the night.
In another key fight at 170-pounds, 2019 season winner Ray Cooper III (21-7-1) had a 6-point win in his first bout of the regular season, but he missed weight Wednesday – which took a point away from him in the standings and left him unable to earn any points Thursday, no matter the result. Stuck at 5 points, Cooper can help his cause by beating Nikolay Aleksakhin (26-5) – which would prevent Aleksakhin from getting any points to potentially overtake Cooper in the standings.
By the time Cooper and Aleksakhin fight, they’ll know the welterweight results from the prelims ahead of them – which might mean the only way Cooper could fall out of the top four and a playoff spot would be with an Aleksakhin finish of him.
Ahead of Thursday’s event, PFL broadcasters and analysts Sean O’Connell and Kenny Florian took a deep dive into the action. Check it out in the video above.