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PFL 4 2024 Regular Season Preview: Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell 3

Check out a full preview of this week's PFL card.

Drew Beaupre

(PFL)

The 2024 PFL Regular Season resumes this Thursday (June 13) when heavyweights and women’s flyweights square off at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.

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The Main Event

The main event for this week’s PFL card will see Valentin Moldavsky attempt to lock up the heavyweight tournament’s #1 seed when he meets fellow Bellator veteran Linton Vassell for the third time.

The two heavyweights first met at Bellator 218, where Moldavsky bested the “The Big Swarm” via unanimous decision. Vassell got his revenge last year when he stopped Moldavsky with ground and pound in the opening round of their matchup at Bellator 292, but now the 41-year-old is fighting for a spot in the PFL playoffs after he was defeated by Denis Goltsov in April.

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The Co-Main Event

The card’s co-main event is a women’s flyweight bout featuring last year’s PFL Europe Champion Dakota Ditcheva taking on Chelsea Hackett.

Ditcheva enters the night as the #1 seed in the women’s flyweight division following her first-round finish of Lisa Mauldin. “Dangerous” will hope to lock up that spot when she faces Hackett, who was submitted in her first regular season bout and is in need of a big win to keep her playoff hopes alive.

Fights You Don’t Want To Miss

Taila Santos vs. Jena Bishop

PFL 4 2024 Regular Season Preview: Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell 3
Taila Santos celebrates after winning her PFL debut against Ilara Joanne. / (Cooper Neill/PFL)

Santos, Bishop, and Ditcheva are all currently sitting on six points after they each picked up first-round finishes in their opening bouts for the 2024 regular season. All three women will be looking to secure the top seed this week, and that makes this matchup between a former UFC title challenger in Santos and the unbeaten Bishop one of the card’s must-watch fights.

Liz Carmouche vs. Kana Watanabe

PFL 4 2024 Regular Season Preview: Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell 3
Liz Carmouche before her fight with Juliana Velasquez at PFL 1 in April. / (Cooper Neill/PFL)

Carmouche is on the hunt to add a PFL title to her decorated MMA record, and she and Watanabe currently both have three points heading into their matchup. A win for either woman should be enough to secure a playoff spot, but a finish could also vault them into a higher seed depending on the results of the other women’s flyweight matchups.

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Fighters to Watch

Juliana Velasquez

PFL 4 2024 Regular Season Preview: Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell 3
Juliana Velasquez's last three fights were against Carmouche. / (Matt Ferris/PFL

The former Bellator titleholder is currently outside of the playoff picture after she dropped her opening bout to Carmouche in April. That was Velasquez’s third-straight loss to “Girl-Rilla” following their back-to-back title bouts in Bellator, and if she wants to have any chance at making the playoffs she’ll need to put in a big performance against Lisa Mauldin.

Oleg Popov

Popov’s PFL debut saw the Russian finish Steve Mowry in the second round, which put him in a strong position to secure a playoff spot in his second fight. The 32-year-old was supposed to face Marcelos Nunes and Blagoy Ivanov before being matched with Davion Franklin, who is making his first appearance in the PFL after he went 1-2 over his last three bouts for Bellator.

Thiago Santos

PFL 4 2024 Regular Season Preview: Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell 3
Thiago Santos is still hunting for his first win in the PFL. / (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)


A failed drug test unfortunately cut Santos’ first PFL season short, and after losing to Yoel Romero at PFL vs. Bellator in February he’s now stepping in for Sergey Bilostenniy to make his heavyweight debut against Goltsov. “The Russian Bogatyr” currently holds the final playoff spot at heavyweight, but Santos could spoil Goltsov’s championship aspirations if he can pull off an upset and score what would be his first win since 2021.

MMA Knockout will be providing comprehensive coverage for PFL 4 all throughout fight week, and be sure to check back on our home page for live results and highlights from all the action on fight night.

Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+, 9:00 p.m. ET)

• Main Event: Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell

• Co-Main Event: Dakota Ditcheva vs. Chelsea Hackett

• Denis Goltsov vs. Thiago Santos

• Liz Carmouche vs. Kana Watanabe


Preliminary Card (ESPN/ESPN+, 5:30 p.m. ET)

• Taila Santos vs. Jena Bishop

• Marcelo Golm vs. Tyrell Fortune

• Oleg Popov vs. Davion Franklin

• Ilara Joanne vs. Shanna Young

• Danilo Marques vs. Tim Johnson

• Juliana Velasquez s. Lisa Mauldin

• Sumiko Inaba vs. Saray Orozco

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Drew Beaupre

DREW BEAUPRE

Drew is an MMA writer that regularly watches regional events in addition to major promotions such as the UFC, PFL, Bellator, and ONE Championship. He joined MMA Knockout when it was founded in 2023.

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