APFC 4 Main Event Breakdown

All told, barring any further postponements between now and Sunday night, APFC 4 will feature a 16-fight card, Live coverage of the main card begins at 7 pm ET/ 4 pm PT on the UFC"s subscription-based streamer, UFC Fight Pass.

After the APFC 4 co-main event settles the score at flyweight between Keaneo Moyer (4-4 MMA) and Badmatsyren Dorzhiev (6-0 MMA), the king of the lightweights will be decided in the APFC 4 main event. Its winner will become the inaugural APFC Lightweight Champion.

Lightweight Supremacy on the Line in APFC 4 Main Event

APFC veteran Johnny Hopper (7-1 MMA, 2-0 APFC) takes on Josh Rohler (7-6 MMA, APFC promotional debut.) Atypical of championship fights in other MMA promotions, Sunday"s APFC 4 main event will be a maximum of three rounds at five minutes per round to close the show.

This was originally supposed to be the second of three title fights to cap the show. Originally, the main event of the evening would have been the battle for the APFC Bantamweight Championship.

Austin Bashi (8-0 MMA) was to make his APFC promotional debut in the main event this weekend against Diego Manzur (4-0 MMA), but that 135-lb. title fight was postponed by the promotion ahead of the show due to reasons unknown.

The status of a potential rebooking of this bantamweight clash is yet to be determined. Bashi will instead fight next Saturday night in Michigan against Pipe Vargas (7-3 MMA) for the Lights Out Championship 11 headliner.

APFC 4 Main Event Fighter Comparison

Heading into Sunday night"s main event, Johnny Hopper stands as the taller competitor at 5-foot-7 frame of Josh Rohler. No reach information was available online.

Additionally, as of late Wednesday night, the betting odds had yet to be released for APFC 4. If you plan on betting on this or any other fight happening this weekend, please wager responsibly.

Johnny Hopper Wants to Beat Josh Rohler Inside the Distance

Johnny Hopper enters the APFC 4 main event having gone 4-1 in his last five MMA bouts. Currently, he"s on a four-fight winning streak.

All four of those wins have come by stoppage, including his Nov. 18 win in APFC 3 versus Juan Roman (6-3 MMA, 0-1 APFC) by third-round knockout. Hopper wants no less than a finish on Sunday in the headliner, as he said in a recent interview.

“When I step in there, everything shuts out," Hopper said. “I have no family problems, no money problems. When I step in there for 25 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever it is, that person across from me is my problem and I"m going to solve it, whether that"s [with] elbows, knees, my hands, I"ll choke you out with my forearm, it doesn"t matter."

Later on in the interview, Hopper sent a message to his opponent later on this weekend.

“Rockin" Rohler, I hope you"re training hard," he said. “I pray you"re training hard because I am. I"m coming for a fight. I"m coming for a finish, and I know you are, as well, so, my man, stay healthy, stay training hard, I"ll see you soon."

Hopper wants to get on the UFC"s radar with a victory in the APFC 4 main event. If he isn"t on the radar yet, he should be. In the event that he wins, his stock will rise even higher.

Josh Rohler Answers a Higher Calling

In the other corner, Josh Rohler has posted a mark of 2-3 over his last five appearances. Back in October of 2022, he dropped a unanimous decision to UFC veteran Khama Worthy in Pittsburgh.

During a recent interview on the APFC YouTube channel, Rohler mentioned that his MMA career serves a greater purpose and that he found God after losing a scholarship to Penn State University in State College when he was 19 years old.

“I am a firm believer that there"s a lot of hard work that goes into this, but I also believe that through that hard work, we"re gifted things by God," Rohler said. “I look at it where my window is open, and I"m 35 years old, so my window"s either going to stay open for a little longer, who knows how long that might be, or my window"s going to shut. During the time that it"s open, I have to use my God-given abilities to glorify God."

Will Josh Rohler become the inaugural champion at 155 lbs? Tune in on Sunday night and find out.

Analysis, Film Study, and Prediction

Stylistically, the APFC 4 main event looks to favor Josh Rohler, a wrestler and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, compared to Johnny Hopper"s background as a balanced MMA fighter.

Johnny Hopper Can Write a Quick End to the Story

One constant in Johnny Hopper"s wins is the fact that the fight ends in short order as it did in August versus Jacob Kindig. During the first round of a scheduled three, Hopper quickly scored with a right-handed punch to stun Kindig, something that would be his bread and butter for as long as this fight lasted.

About a minute and 10 seconds in, he executed a level change to complete a single-leg takedown and continued to tee off with right hands. Another barrage of ground-and-pound shots ended the fight in a minute and 52 seconds.

If Johnny Hopper can land punches in bunches on Sunday night, he"ll leave Indiana with the championship after the APFC 4 main event. Josh Rohler is no slouch either.

Rohler Can Also End the Show Quickly

While it hasn"t happened too often, Josh Rohler has also been known to score the knockout. His 2016 fight against Mike Williams is proof of that.

A few seconds after the contest began, Rohler knocked Williams down with a left-handed punch, yet Williams regained his strength and tried to submit him,

Josh Rohler fought off the submission hold and unleashed ground and pound shots to force Mike Williams to submit to his strikes in a mere 37 seconds. All it"s going to take for Josh Rohler to win the APFC 4 main event is as little as one punch.

Final Thoughts

We don"t get Sunday night MMA often enough, but we"ll get a title fight in the main event this Sunday. If you want to get out of that dinner engagement with your girlfriend, you"ve got a few days to come up with an excuse.

This should be a great bout in the APFC 4 main event this weekend. Bring your dinner to the living room and pull up a chair to watch the fight.

Prediction: Johnny Hopper by First-Round KO.

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