PFL Champions Series 3
Professional Fighters League MMA event in 2025
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PFL Champions Series 3: Nurmagomedov vs. Hughes 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Professional Fighters League that took place on October 3, 2025, at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[1][2][3]
| PFL Champions Series 3: Nurmagomedov vs. Hughes 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
The poster for PFL Champions Series 3: Nurmagomedov vs. Hughes 2 | ||||
| Promotion | Professional Fighters League | |||
| Date | October 3, 2025 | |||
| Venue | Coca-Cola Arena | |||
| City | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
The event marked the promotion's second visit to Dubai and first since PFL Champions Series 1 in January 2025.[4]
A PFL Lightweight World Championship rematch between a current Bellator Lightweight Champion Usman Nurmagomedov and former Cage Warriors Featherweight Champion Paul Hughes headlined the event.[5] The pairing previously met at PFL Champions Series 1 in January 2025, which Nurmagomedov defended the title by majority decision.[6]
The co-main event took place a PFL Light Heavyweight World Championship bout between a current Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion (also The Ultimate Fighter: Team Edgar vs. Team Penn light heavyweight winner) Corey Anderson and 2024 PFL Light Heavyweight Tournament winner Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov.[7] The pairing previously met in the Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix at Bellator 257 in April 2021, which Anderson advanced to semifinal by technical knockout in round three.[8]
Artem Lobov and Zubaira Tukhugov were scheduled to meet at this event.[9] The pairing was initially scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Volkan vs. Smith in October 2018, but Tukhugov was removed from the bout due his role in the UFC 229 post-fight melee.[10] However on September 30, the promotion announced that the bout was scrapped due to Lobov's suffered an injury in training.[11]
Results
| Main card (ESPN App) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Lightweight | Usman Nurmagomedov | def. | Paul Hughes | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 49–46, 48–47) | 5 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Light Heavyweight | Corey Anderson | def. | Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov | Decision (unanimous) (49–45, 49–45, 48–47) | 5 | 5:00 | [b] |
| Bantamweight | Sergio Pettis | def. | Magomed Magomedov | KO (spinning back elbow and punch) | 2 | 4:31 | |
| Lightweight | Archie Colgan | def. | Jay-Jay Wilson | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (140 lb) | Jack Cartwright | def. | Caolán Loughran | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN App) | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Pouya Rahmani | def. | Slim Trabelsi | TKO (punches) | 1 | 2:47 | |
| Welterweight | Florim Zendeli | def. | Omar El Dafrawy | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Mirafzal Akhtamov | def. | Luann Sardinha | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Takeshi Izumi | def. | Vinicius Sacchelli Cenci | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Makkasharip Zaynukov | def. | John Mitchell | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Jarrah Al-Silawi | def. | Gregory Babene | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
- For the inaugural PFL Lightweight World Championship.
- For the inaugural PFL Light Heavyweight World Championship.
