Against all odds, Alfie Davis is a PFL tournament champion.
The English fighter was crowned champion of the 2025 PFL lightweight tournament after outpointing Gadzhi Rabadanov in the main event of 2025 PFL World Tournament 9, which took place Friday at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C. Despite being a sizable underdog, Davis (20-5-1) won with 48-47 scores from all three judges.
Davis took home the 2025 PFL lightweight tournament belt and a $500,000 prize on top of his fight purse. This was Davis’ first major championship belt of his 10-year MMA career.
It was a slow, but hard-fought win for Davis at 2025 PFL World Tournament 9. Although he didn’t do a ton of damage on Rabadanov (26-5-2), Davis clearly landed the better shots of the fight and was far more active than Rabadanov on the feet. Rabadanov made the fight close by pressuring Davis and controlling him at times with his wrestling. Unfortunately for Rabadanov, he didn’t do enough damage with his control, ultimately losing a close decision.
With this result, Davis is now on a three-fight winning streak and 6-1 in his past seven bouts. He entered the tournament as an underdog, but ended up upsetting several notable names in Clay Collard, former Bellator champion Brent Primus, and now Rabadanov, who had won the 2024 PFL lightweight tournament.
On the other side, Rabadanov saw a 12-fight winning streak come to an end. He hadn’t tasted defeat since losing his Eagle FC lightweight title in 2020. Rabadanov has stopped former UFC fighters Kevin Lee and Marc Diakiese en route to the 2025 PFL lightweight tournament final.
