PFL Africa is coming to Casablanca for the first time on 10 October. The event will take place at the Mohammed V Sports Complex and will feature seven fights. Six of them are semi-finals in the bantamweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. The winners will move on to the PFL Africa Finals later this year. Tickets are available on ticket.ma.
The main event will see Senegal’s Abdoulaye Kane face Casablanca fighter Badr “Dastan” Medkouri in a heavyweight bout.
Kane has a 5-2 record and stands 6ft 5in tall. He has finished all five of his wins, with four knockouts and one submission.
Medkouri has a 9-3 record and is 6ft 4in tall. Eight of his nine wins have come by knockout.
The co-main event will feature unbeaten bantamweight Karim Henniene against Nigeria’s Raphael Uchegbu.
Henniene is 7-0 and trains at Tristar Gym in Montreal. He started judo at the age of six and won his latest fight by first-round anaconda choke at PFL Africa 2.
Uchegbu is 11-2 and trains at Team Kaobon in Liverpool. He reached the semi-finals after beating Edson Machavane by unanimous decision.
The other bantamweight semi-final will see Liberia’s Dwight Joseph take on Angola’s Boule Godogo.
Joseph has a 16-3 record and has been fighting professionally for 10 years. He trains at Team Alpha Male and has won several regional bantamweight titles.
Godogo is 5-2 and is known for his wrestling and powerful takedowns.
The welterweight semi-finals will feature Angola’s Shido Boris Esperança against South Africa’s Peace Nguphane.
Esperança has a 12-2 record and was the second fighter signed to PFL Africa. He reached the semi-finals with a 34-second rear-naked choke win.
Nguphane is 9-3. He is a three-time South African national champion and a former IMMAF Africa Open gold medallist.
Guinea-Bissau’s Rivaldo Pereira will face unbeaten Nigerian David Samuel in the other welterweight semi-final.
Pereira is 4-2 and won the 2020 IBJJF European Championship. He also holds a Portuguese national MMA title. He reached the semi-finals with a first-round TKO in his PFL debut.
Samuel is 6-0. He dropped his opponent several times with boxing combinations before winning by first-round submission.
The lightweight semi-finals will include an all-Nigerian fight between Patrick Ocheme and Cornel Thompson.
Ocheme is 9-1 and has five knockout wins. He reached the semi-finals with a first-round knockout.
Thompson is 12-3 and advanced after beating Aureo Cruz by unanimous decision.
Senegal’s Demba Seck will face Chad’s Hussain Al Kurdi in the other lightweight semi-final.
Seck is 11-3 and has trained in boxing, taekwondo and hapkido. Al Kurdi is 3-0 and trains at KHK MMA in Bahrain. The 21-year-old also won a bronze medal at the IMMAF World Championships as an amateur.
Fighters from nine countries will compete in Casablanca: Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Chad, Liberia and Morocco.
