PFL will make its return to New York this summer, and it’s putting its best foot forward in terms of star power.
Usman Nurmagomedov, the top pound-for-pound fighter in the organization’s rankings, will defend his lightweight championship against fellow unbeaten Archie Colgan in the main event, while No. 1 women’s flyweight and 2024 PFL season winner Dakota Ditcheva makes her first appearance of the year when she takes on Denise Kielholtz on July 31 at UBS Arena, PFL CEO John Martin told The Post.
“In terms of talent, we’ve got our two pound-for-pound champs going to be in New York, so really, really excited,” Martin said of the event on his native Long Island that caps a planned three-week run of PFL events featuring championship fights. “… When you look at the likes of Usman and Dakota, these are cards at an elite level that compare to any other promotion in the world.”
Nurmagomedov (21-0, 15 finishes), who is approaching the final fight on his contract, defends his PFL gold for the second time after previously reigning as the Bellator champion when that organization was purchased by his current promotion; he stopped challenger Alfie Davis via technical submission on Feb. 7.
Colgan (13-0, six finishes), who outpointed Jay-Jay Wilson in October to move to 2-0 with PFL, was the most logical choice as next challenger given Nurmagomedov — cousin of UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov — topped No. 1 ranked contender Davis and is a teammate and close friend of No. 2 Gadzhi Rabadanov, with Colgan in the No. 3 spot.
“For me, it made the most sense for Archie,” Martin said. “I think he deserves it. He has built his reputation each fight, and each one’s gotten harder and harder, and he stepped up and proved himself in every single fight he’s been in.”
The co-main event of Ditcheva vs. Kielholtz was planned as the original next-to-last bout the night Nurmagomedov topped Davis in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, before an injury to Ditcheva forced her out.
Though ranked No. 6 in the NY Post Sports MMA World Rankings ahead of fellow PFL standouts Taila Santos and Liz Carmouche, the fight against Kielholtz will not be to crown the inaugural PFL women’s flyweight champion.
Martin envisions the winner of Ditcheva’s matchup against PFL’s No. 6 woman at 125 pounds would later this year face one of the winners from the June 27 event in San Diego, with both Carmouche vs. Viviane Araujo and Ariane da Silva vs. Jena Bishop scheduled in pivotal divisional matchups.
Rebooking Ditcheva against Kielholtz, Martin said, came with the 27-year-old standout fully on board despite the lack of gold on the line because of how the original matchup never came to pass.
“When the injury occurred, we sat down and we spoke with her, and we talked about what made most sense for her, and she felt that she had committed to Denise, and she felt that she owed it to give Denise that fight,” Martin explained.
“This is not going to be an easy fight for her, and she could have easily approached us with a different tact to say, ‘I just want to wait and fight for a championship. I think I deserve it,’ and we would have to consider that. But she didn’t do that, and she wants to be busy, and she wants to have real challenges, and I have a lot of respect for that.”
Ditcheva (15-0, 13 finishes) will compete for the first time since a decision victory last July against Sumiko Inaba, which moved her to 10-0 with the promotion but was the first of them in which she failed to finish her opponent inside the distance.
Kielholtz (9-5, five finishes), 10 years older than the 27-year-old rising star, remained on the Dubai card to pick up a decision victory over replacement opponent Antonia Silvaneide in her promotional debut after arriving as part of the 2023 Bellator acquisition.
Leading up to the New York show, a July 18 event in Austin, Texas, is headlined by the middleweight title rematch between champion Costello van Steenis and Johnny Eblen — the man from whom the champ captured his crown — and a July 25 card in Washington is topped by Thad Jean and Shamil Musaev vying for the vacant welterweight championship.
This marks PFL’s first event in the state since August 2023, when the league had still operated with a season-style format and brought two of its semifinal events to The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Under the leadership of Martin, who came aboard as CEO in late 2025, PFL now hosts more traditional events that are not tied to seasons or tournaments.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
