Five cards are already in the books in the 2023 regular season. There’s still one more piece of unfinished business that needs to be taken care of before the scene shifts to San Antonio for PFL 7 and the start of the playoffs the first week in August.
Atlanta’s Overtime Elite Arena, just as has been the case the last two weeks, serves as the host venue for PFL 6 Friday’s card features win or go home fights for lightweights and welterweights.
Live coverage of PFL 6 begins at 5:30 pm ET/ 2:30 pm PT on ESPN+ with part one of the show. Part two follows at 9 pm ET/ 6 pm PT on ESPN proper. Unlike last week, this Friday is an off day in the Men’s College World Series ahead of its best-of-three championship beginning the next evening, so there’s no concern over a baseball game running long and cutting into the main card.
All told, barring any postponed bouts, Friday’s slate features 12 fights. Highlighting the night is the last contest of the regular season at lightweight in the PFL 6 main event.
It’ll be an all-Canadian headliner this weekend. Montreal product Olivier Aubin-Mercier (18-5 MMA, 1-0 PFL 2023, three points in the standings) seeks to clinch the last available playoff berth when he battles PFL Challenger Series alumnus (and Ontario native) Anthony Romero (12-1 MMA, 0-0 PFL 2023, zero points in the standings.)
Much like all other PFL regular season and semifinal bouts, the PFL 6 main event will be an advertised maximum of three rounds at five minutes per round to close the show.
OFFICIAL: Updated June 23rd Fight Card
– Jarrah Al Silawi now faces Solomon Renfro in a #PFLRegularSeason bout
– New Start Times: Prelims 6pm ET on ESPN+ | Main card 9pm ET on ESPN pic.twitter.com/nwmqObvVMz— PFL (@PFLMMA) June 19, 2023
Heading into Friday’s PFL 6 main event in Atlanta, Anthony Romero stands as the taller fighter at 5-foot-11, compared to Olivier Aubin-Mercier’s 5-foot-10 frame. The latter owns a one-inch reach advantage (71 inches to 70 inches) over the former.
Aubin-Mercier also has a 42-inch leg reach, with no such information available for Romero at press time.
As of Monday evening, the oddsmakers have Olivier Aubin-Mercier installed as a -450 favorite on the money line, with Anthony Romero countering as a +350 underdog. If you plan on betting on this or any other fight happening over the weekend, please wager responsibly.
Olivier Aubin-Mercier, the 2022 PFL Lightweight Champion, enters the final fight of the regular season having posted a perfect 5-0 record in his last five matches. Back on April 14, during PFL 3, he began his defense of the 155-lb. belt with a unanimous decision victory against fellow UFC alum Shane Burgos (15-4 MMA, 0-1 2023 PFL, zero points in the standings).
After the fight, the champ met with the press. He didn’t mince words regarding that night’s results.
“I want to apologize to everybody from (Brendan) Loughnane, from “Razor” (Robert Wilkinson), and for myself to beat all the UFC guys,” Aubin-Mercier said. “The big signings. Sorry, PFL, I know you paid a lot of money for those three guys, and we killed them. I’m sorry.”
Since leaving Dana White’s promotion, Aubin-Mercier has gone undefeated at 7-0. An eighth win will get him back in the playoffs in a couple of months, but will he get it? Tune into the PFL 6 main event and find out.
In the other corner, Anthony Romero has gone 4-1 over the last five fights. At present, he’s on a three-fight winning streak.
Back in February, he made the trek to Universal Orlando for the Challenger Series, emerging victorious against Tony Caruso (8-2 MMA) right after Valentine’s Day on Feb. 17, winning the contract via the judges’ vote at the end of the night. Recently,Romero was interviewed on an episode of the MMAJunkie Radio podcast, where he discussed a variety of topics, including the fact that he’s met Aubin-Mercier before outside of a fight card.
“We’ve trained, not that he would remember anything,” Romero said. “I was a 17-year-old kid going to train at Tristar (in Montreal), trying to build my dream of becoming a professional fighter. He was there, Georges (St-Pierre) was there, all those top guys were there. We did like a one-situation round, and other than that, I didn’t even think anything of it, so, not much to say about it.”
This is a man who just secured a PFL deal four months ago and is now on the verge of the biggest bout of his career. Only time will tell if he pulls off the upset.
Stylistically, the PFL 6 main event on Friday night looks to favor Olivier Aubin-Mercier, a judoka, compared to Anthony Romero’s status as a taekwondo fighter.
Though it hasn’t happened too often (in fact, it’s only happened twice in his MMA career to-date,) Olivier Aubin-Mercier is brutal when it comes to knockouts. One need look no further than his 2018 fight vs. Evan Dunham.
Moments into the bout, Aubin-Mercier connected on a knee to the body that wobbled Dunham. He peppered him with punches and landed a second knee to knock Dunham down, finally ending the affair with shots to the head.
Look for Olivier Aubin-Mercier to try and hunt for an opening to land a knee to the body. If he scores with the knee, the PFL 6 main event is his.
In the other corner, don’t discount Anthony Romero’s ability to land the knee. It’s just as brutal.
Kenn Glenn found this out the hard way in Fury FC 60 last year. During round two, the fighters exchanged feints before Romero landed a kick to Glenn’s head. While Glenn continued to throw feints, Romero scored with a right hand and a leg kick.
Kenn Glenn eventually landed a three-punch combination, but Romero continued to evade his shots and throw feints. With under a minute to go, Romero smelled blood in the water from a head kick, jumping up to execute a perfect flying knee to send Glenn down and out.
If Romero wobbles Aubin-Mercier, it’ll only be a matter of time before he ends the night with a flying knee.
This is a great fight for the PFL to end its regular season. With a playoff berth on the line, expect both of these fighters to give everything they’ve got. Crunch time is now.
Prediction: Olivier Aubin-Mercier by First-Round TKO.
