STAMFORD, Conn. – NBC Sports Group presents the inaugural Professional Fighters League event this Friday, June 30, highlighted by Jon Fitch (29-7-1) in the main event welterweight showdown against Brian Foster (27-9) live at 10:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN from Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Fla. The winner of the bout will capture the No. 1 seed for the inaugural Professional Fighters League season, which begins in January 2018. Coverage on Friday follows the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series Race at 10:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
Fitch successfully defended the WSOF welterweight title in December 2016 (WSOF34) against Jake Shields (31-8). Fitch first challenged for the welterweight title in December 2014 (WSOF16), though he suffered a submission loss to then-champ Rousimar Palhares. Fitch rebounded with an October 2015 win over Yushin Okami (WSOF24) on his way to winning the title against Joao “The Brazilian Samurai” Zeferino in WSOF30.
The co-main event features Smealinho “The Prince” Rama (10-2) facing Ronny Markes (16-5) in a light heavyweight bout. Rama has won 10 of his 12 MMA career bouts, most recently against Jake Heun in WSOF34. Markes comes off a first-round loss against Viktor Nemkov in M-1 Challenge 77 in May.
Saturday’s card also features Joao “The Brazilian Samurai” Zeferino (21-8) vs. Herman “The Hitman” Terrado (14-3-1) in a welterweight bout, and Jason “The Kansas City Bandit” High(20-6) vs. Caros “The Future” Fodor (11-5) in a lightweight bout.
Play-by-play announcer Todd Harris calls the action alongside two-time Olympic judo gold medalist and analyst Kayla Harrison, and mixed martial artists and analysts Bas Rutten and Randy Couture.
Professional Fighters League: Daytona is the first of four events in 2017 leading up to the start of the inaugural season in January 2018. The remaining 2017 events will be on Saturday, July 29 in Everett, Wash.; Saturday, October 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada; and Thursday, November 4in Washington, D.C.
Professional Fighters League will be streamed live on NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value for their subscription service, and making high quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. Powered by Playmaker Media, the NBC Sports app is available on Apple iOS, Android and select Samsung devices, as well as on Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Win10, and Xbox.
