Kane Elbows Out Medkouri as PFL Africa Semifinals Set the Finals

PFL Africa staged its tournament semifinals on Saturday at the Mohammed V Sports Complex in Casablanca, Morocco. In the heavyweight main event, Senegal's Abdoulaye Kane stopped promotional newcomer Badr Medkouri with elbows at 4:06 of the first round.

The fight was briefly paused early after an apparent eye poke by Kane, but Medkouri recovered and continued. Kane then pressed the Moroccan against the fence, took him down and worked punches as Medkouri tried to escape, before a series of elbows forced referee Paul Crossley to step in. Kane moved to 6-2, rebounding from a loss and going 3-1 over his last four.

Ghemmouri wins the co-main event

At featherweight, former UFC fighter and 2025 PFL MENA finalist Yanis Ghemmouri took Taha Bendaoud down several times in the second and third rounds and kept him at range with strikes. The Algerian won on three 30-27 cards.

Finals take shape

At welterweight, Shido Boris Esperanca, who had missed weight at 172 pounds, stopped Peace Nguphane in 63 seconds, and David Samuel beat Rivaldo Pereira by unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three cards, after controlling the grappling exchanges. The two will meet in the final. Bantamweight Dwight Joseph beat Boule Godogo by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) and will face Raphael Uchegbu, whose own semifinal was removed from the card.

Lightweight Patrick Ocheme dropped Cornel Thompson with a body kick at 2:46 of the first round to reach the final, where he will meet Demba Seck. Seck advanced under tournament rules after his bout with Hussain Al Kurdi was ruled a no contest when an accidental knee to the groin left him unable to continue. Elsewhere, Reda Abdellaoui stayed unbeaten with a first-round rear-naked choke and Mouhamed Ba earned his first PFL win by unanimous decision.