UFC heavyweights are not on the same level as PFL heavyweights, per PFL Dubai victor

As feelings mount about the UFC’s dwindling heavyweight ranks, a recent winner at PFL Dubai has posited that his promotion has a deeper roster in that weight category. The fighter in question is Pouya Rahmani, who scored a submission victory over Karl Williams to improve his unblemished professional MMA record.

Also a prolific wrestler, Rahmani picked up a win in a previous wrestling match against Hamdy Abdelwahab at ADXC 5 in August 2024, with the latter somewhat recently cut from the UFC. When asked for his thoughts on Abdelwahab no longer being a contracted UFC athlete, Rahmani said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“To be honest, I fight Hamdy. I finish him by submission in 2 minutes. So and also now Hamdy is out of the UFC. Another person, now he’s in the UFC, Denzel Freeman. I wrestled him too. I beat him in ADXC. So I beat the ADXC champion in wrestling too. Yeah, but to be honest, I’m not very close and I don’t think about all these things, you know.”

“I’m very focused on my career, my training, and I don’t go into these things, to see, oh, what happened or why this guy is gone? Because I’m so busy with what I’m doing, you know. Now I just got from training. I’m so tired, you know, and you can’t see my face. Yeah, but like I told you from the beginning, like I see from my eyes, from my experience, this UFC fighter, you see them, they’re not that hard to wrestle all.”

“They only know a little bit, you know, none of them at that level of wrestling. Yes, for example, if you talk about Khamzat Chimaev, yes. In his division he destroys everyone because he is a very good wrestler. If you talk about Islam Makhachev, yes. But other people from the other division and especially the heavyweights are not there, brother, a good wrestler.”

“So a lot of them also invite them to the event where I used to do wrestling. They ask them to fight me because they are looking for an opponent for me, none of them accept that, you know. The top five of UFC, some of them are wrestlers and none of them accept to fight me. I don’t want to mention their name, but yeah, they are not from that level of wrestling. What people see and what I see is very different because I am in this game and what I think I can do they are very different, you know.

Pouya Rahmani: “Heavyweight division in PFL is much better than UFC right now”

Addressing the growing sentiment among MMA fans that the PFL heavyweight division is well matched in depth to the UFC’s weight class, Rahmani stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“In my opinion, the heavyweight division in the PFL is much better than the UFC right now.”

Further expounding on this view that PFL heavyweights are a lot better than those of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Rahmani quipped [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“100%. Because in PFL you can name a name you know. But who do you want to name in UFC? If you put the top two on one side. After the top two, who can you name as an elite fighter, who you can trust as the guy who can win, you know? There’s not just a top champion, rank number one, rank number two, and then no one after that.”

“But in PFL you have a lot of different names you can call. You can say, oh, this guy’s good, that guy’s good, you know. That guy’s a good striker. That guy’s a good grappler, that guy’s a good wrestler, you know. So there’s a lot of good fighters in the PFL right now at heavyweight. And I’m glad I’m here to beat these guys, you know. When you beat some good guys, it’s better than when you beat some bad guys. beats, you know.”