| Loughnane vs. Moraes |
Santos vs. Wilkinson |
Fleury vs. Jotko |
Khayvulaev vs. Kudo |
Jenkins vs. Wade |
|
|
MMA Junkie readers’ consensus picks 35-24 |
 Loughnane (88%) |
 Wilkinson (56%) |
 Jotko (88%) |
 Khaybulaev (88%) |
 Wade (61%) |
|
Matt Erickson @MattE 37-22 |
Loughnane |
 Santos |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Wade |
|
Nolan King @mma_kings 37-22 |
Loughnane |
Wilkinson |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Wade |
|
George Garcia @MMAjunkieGeorge 37-22 |
Loughnane |
Wilkinson |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Wade |
|
Simon Samano @SJSamano 35-24 |
Loughnane |
Wilkinson |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Wade |
|
Abbey Subhan @kammakaze 34-25 |
Loughnane |
Wilkinson |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
 Jenkins |
|
Farah Hannoun @Farah_Hannoun 34-25 |
Loughnane |
Wilkinson |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Wade |
|
Ken Hathaway @kenshathaway 33-26  |
Loughnane |
Wilkinson |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Jenkins |
|
Matthew Wells @MrMWells 33-26 |
Loughnane |
Wilkinson |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Jenkins |
|
Mike Bohn @MikeBohn 32-27 |
Loughnane |
Santos |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Wade |
|
Danny Segura @dannyseguratv 32-27 |
Loughnane |
Santos |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Wade |
|
Brian Garcia @thegoze 31-28 |
Loughnane |
Wilkinson |
Jotko |
Khaybulaev |
Jenkins |
The PFL is back for its 2023 regular season, and featherweights and light heavyweights are up first.
PFL 2023, Week 1 takes place Saturday at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The main card airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+.
(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)
In the main event, 2022 featherweight season winner Brendan Loughnane (26-4) takes on Marlon Moraes (23-11-1), a former WSOF bantamweight champion and ex-UFC interim title challenger who has fallen on rough times with five straight losses, including in his PFL debut this past November. Loughnane is the biggest favorite on the card at -750 at BetMGM; the comeback on Moraes is +500. Not surprisingly, our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers have Loughnane as one of three unanimous picks on the main card.
The co-main event also features a former UFC title challenger in Thiago Santos (22-11), who takes on 2022 light heavyweight season winner Rob Wilkinson (17-2), who has six straight wins by stoppage. Wilkinson is a 2-1 favorite at the betting window, and he has a big 8-3 lead in the picks from our staff members.
Also on the main card, Krzysztof Jotko (24-6) will fight outside the UFC for the first time in nearly 10 years when he steps in on short notice to take on Will Fleury (11-3) at light heavyweight. Jotko, who is moving up after years at middleweight, is a -250 favorite and the second of our unanimous picks at 11-0.
Our third unanimous pick is Movlid Khaybulaev (19-0-1), who is a 7-1 favorite in his featherweight season opener against Ryoji Kudo (11-4-1). Khaybulaev won the 2021 featherweight season, but was out of action all of 2022.
And to open the main card, the man Loughnane beat this past November to win the $1 million featherweight season, Bubba Jenkins (19-6), returns to take on 2021 finalist Chris Wade (22-8). Wade is a slight favorite at -175, and he has the narrowest possible edge in the picks at 6-5.
In the MMA Junkie consensus picks, Loughnane (82 percent), Wilkinson (56 percent), Jotko (88 percent), Khaybulaev (88 percent) and Wade (61 percent) are the choices.
Check out all the picks above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL 2023, Week 1.
