At the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, fight fans witnessed the super fight event headlined by PFL’s Renan Ferreira vs. Bellator’s Ryan Bader. The fight had much at stake: the status as the best of the best in the two promotions and the chance to secure a Francis Ngannou fight. Ferreira secured the victory in dominant fashion with a knockout in just 21 seconds. Now fans are curious about how much he earned apart from the potential Ngannou fight.
While there is rarely any fight purse confirmation in combat sports, but PFL has been somewhat transparent about purse and salary details. Regarding this fight, NY Fights has shared some details.
Despite it not being the PFL season, reports indicate that Renan Ferreira, who won last year’s PFL heavyweight regular season and earned a $1 million check, as per the estimates ‘Problema’ has received $1,100,000 in PFL fighter pay.
OH MY WORD 🤯
Renan Ferreira stops Ryan Bader in less than 30 seconds 🌬#PFLvsBellator | Live on DAZN pic.twitter.com/dnZOJ7Ntuw
— DAZN MMA (@daznmma) February 24, 2024
On the flip side, despite losing, Bader earned a similar amount to Ferreira, approximately $1,100,000. However, these are just estimated numbers and not the actual figures; and these are based on multiple sources. And apart from racking over million, Ferreira also potentially secured the biggest fight of his career against Ngannou.
Renan Ferreira might fight Francis Ngannou next
Many fans are not liking the idea of Ferreira taking on Ngannou next, given that he is not a big name that would make this fight more glamorous. Speaking of records, the Brazilian superstar has a 13-3-0 record, winning 11 of his fights via knockout. On the flip side, Ngannou has a record of 17-3-0 and has finished 12 fights via knockout. So, in terms of records, this seems to be a solid fight on paper.
However, the big question is: Does this fight have the potential to sell out the arena without Ngannou’s star power? The answer is simply no, as there is rarely anyone in the company who can match his stardom, especially after his boxing career. However, according to earlier reports, this fight seems to be happening.
The hope, per PFL sources, is for Francis’ PFL debut to take place in 2024. Timing though depends on the March 8 AJ fight:
If he wins, they want it be backend of the year. If he loses, they want it to be late summer.
That said …
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 24, 2024
Ariel Helwani says Ngannou might start fighting for PFL in 2024 and the potential schedule will depend upon the fight on March 8 with Anthony Joshua. Fans haven’t seen ‘Predator’ fight for over 2 years, since 2022 when he fought Ciryl Gane. So there is no doubt his return to octagon would be insane to witness.
