Morocco: PFL Africa Shifts Cage to Morocco After Lagos Showdown
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) Africa will continue its 2026 campaign later this year, as the league heads north for its next and maiden landmark event in Casablanca, Morocco on October 10.
The historic card will showcase some of the continent’s top emerging talent alongside established regional standouts, as PFL Africa pushes to expand its commitment to bringing world-class Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to fans across Africa.
Casablanca will be PFL Africa’s next stop after Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa, Kigali in Rwanda, Cotonou in Benin and most recently Lagos, Nigeria on June 13.
Lagos produced a memorable debut action with a mix of joy and frustrations across various categories.
The featherweight showcase main event saw home boy Wasi Adeshina square off with Spain’s Ignacio Nacho Campos in a bout that headlined PFL Africa’s first event on Nigerian soil.
Adeshina, who returned to the cage as PFL Africa reigning champion, opened with a quick takedown, but Nacho worked back to his feet, landed a knee in the clinch and finished with a rear-naked choke submission in round 1.
The lightweight tournament co-main event saw Nigeria’s Patrick Ocheme face Cameroon’s Octave Ayinda. Ocheme pivoted with a check-hook and ended the fight with a highlight reel flying knee in the first round.
The card also featured opening-round bantamweight and lightweight tournament bouts, with fighters across both brackets looking to book their places in the next stage. Boule Godogo stopped Dauda Rajabu with ground and pound to punch his ticket to the semifinals of the bantamweight tournament, joining Dwight Joseph, who earned a split decision win.
In an impressive three-round bout, Raphael Uchegbu earned a unanimous 30-27 sweep on the judges’ scorecards. The Algerian-Canadian Karim Henniene stole the show with a quick ‘anaconda’ choke victory to remain undefeated and move to the next phase of the bantamweight tournament.
Demba Seck captured a dominant decision win against Jean Do Santos to advance to the semifinal round of the lightweight tournament. The high-energy Hussain Al Kurdi will join him after his submission victory over Abderrahman Errachidy. Nigeria’s Cornel Thompson improved to 12 career victories with ananimous decision win to stay in the tournament.
In addition to tournament action, the Lagos event also included showcase bouts across multiple divisions. Brazil’s Elisandra “Lili” Ferreira handed Juliet Ukah her first career loss with an armbar submission.
Middleweight Jordan Fongno broke Yahaya Yahuza’s eight-fight win streak with a flurry of punches, leading to a Technical Knockout (TKO) win. Zambia’s Shelda Chipito survived an ankle injury to submit Egypt’s Haidy Ahmed with a rear-naked choke to kick off the event.
BY New Times.
