Former UFC light heavyweight fighter Tyson Pedro is coming out of MMA retirement. The 34-year-old has revealed that he has signed a contract with PFL.
Pedro will make his debut in the SmartCage in 2026, as ‘Kangaroo Paws’ revealed to Ariel Helwani. He said:
“I just signed with PFL Global, and I’ll be fighting next year… There’s so much going on in the boxing world, and I didn’t really understand the complexities of it. I pretty much probably quit fighting, and then I joined my new team, and I got an offer from PFL… I was all for it.”
Check out Tyson Pedro’s comments below:
The PFL has not yet confirmed the signing or made an official announcement.
Octagon to the Ring and now the SmartCage: a deep dive into the career of Tyson Pedro
Tyson Pedro made his UFC debut in 2016 against Khalil Rountree Jr. and won with a first-round submission, for which he received a bonus. He then took on Paul Craig in 2017 and won by round 1 knockout.
However, after Paul Craig’s victory, Pedro lost the next 3 of his 4 UFC fights.
In 2019, the Australian was sidelined due to a knee injury and required knee reconstruction surgery.
After recovery and rehabilitation, Pedro was ready to return to the octagon on February 23, 2020, opposite Vinicius Moreira. However, Pedro withdrew a month before the fight and did not step into the octagon for almost three years.
After the layoff, he returned to winning ways in 2022 by knocking out Ike Villanueva in the first round of UFC Fight Night 205. In his next three bouts, Pedro won in two by Round 1 KO.
Pedro’s last UFC fight was against Vitor Petrino in 2024, which he lost by unanimous decision. After that setback, he retired from MMA with a UFC record of 6-5. Interestingly, all of Pedro’s wins in the UFC have come in the first round.
Tyson Pedro switched to boxing after leaving the UFC. However, his first two fights with Kris Terzievsk were canceled once because he withdrew and the second time because his opponent withdrew. A fight with Carlouse Welch was also scrapped in 2025.
‘Kangaroo Paws’ finally made his boxing debut on February 26, 2025 against Taimoor Khan, winning by TKO in the seventh round. In July, another fight with Terzievski was scrapped.
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