PFL Chicago adds three battles to its April 11 billing

The lineup for one of the Professional Fighters League’s April shows is starting to come together.The promotion issued a trio of matchups for the PFL Chicago event on April 11, an event that concludes with a Sergio Pettis-Mitchell McKee main attraction. The three fights will take place at Wintrust Arena in the Windy City. Each of the new matchups pits a PFL-ranked fighter against an unranked opponent.

The first of these new options is a featherweight bout pitting Gabriel Braga (16-3) against the debuting Mehdi Baydulaev (19-2). Since making his PFL debut in the 2023 edition of the Challenger Series, Braga has been one of the top 145ers not to win a tournament. In its three attempts to claim a tournament title, Braga was eliminated from the play-offs each time, with two of those three defeats coming to Jesus Pinedo. On the other side of the equation, Chechen Baydulaev has won his last thirteen matches, nine of them by submission, dating back to 2019.

The Bishop’s Last Stand

At the tender age of 40, Jena Bishop (9-3) will enter this event in Chicago after her first clean knockout loss. She fought Liz Carmouche to a third-round KO loss in August 2025 for the tournament championship, during which time she continued with wins over Kana Watanabe and Ekaterina Shakalova. Her undefeated flyweight opponent, Borena Tsertsvadze (6-0), has never fought outside her native Georgia. Her debut in the United States comes after a pair of first-round victories over Khanim Bashirova and Mobina Babanataj last year, although these two ladies combined for a 1-1 professional record when facing them.Finally, fans will be treated to a classic match between Egypt and Tonga as “GodFirst” Omar El Dafrawy (14-6) leaves the confines of PFL’s Middle Eastern spin-off for the major league. He faces 170-pound PFL newcomer James Vake (7-1), who will be in his first fight since 2024. Vake last competed at welterweight in 2023, winning a decision over .500 Dyllon Muniz. The Tongan has won the majority of his victories via strikes.

PFL Chicago partial lineup:

Sergio Pettis vs. Mitchell McKee – Bantamweight
Jordan Newman vs. Joshua Silveira – Middleweight
Gabriel Braga vs. Mehdi Baydulaev – Featherweight
Jena Bishop vs. Borena Tsertsvadze – Women’s Flyweight
Omar El Dafrawy vs. James Vake – Welterweight