The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is expanding its reach across the combat sports landscape. The U.S.-based mixed martial arts promotion, founded in 2012, recently acquired one of its competitors, Bellator, a big victory in PFL’s quest to grab the attention of fight fans who believe the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the alpha and omega of MMA. The company also grew in 2023 to add PFL Europe, ran its first pay-per-view event in Saudi Arabia, and announced plans to launch PFL MENA (Middle East & North Africa) in 2024.

One thing that sets PFL apart from the crowd is its unique format. Unlike traditionally booked fight sports, PFL’s six weight classes — heavyweight, light heavyweight, welterweight, lightweight, and featherweight for men; plus women’s flyweight — have a regular season each year, followed by a championship tournament.

A few of the fighters on the roster for PFL’s 2024 season are Muslim. All of them hail from Russia, a country with a 6.5 percent Muslim population. Ahead of the season kickoff on April 4, here’s a breakdown:

***** *****

Murad Ramazanov
The 28-year-old welterweight is 11-0 with seven stoppages and one no-contest as an MMA pro. Coming from a Greco-Roman wrestling background, he was a local and international amateur MMA champion. Prior to joining PFL, Ramazanov was in the ONE Championship promotion, where he went 3-0 with one no-contest.

***** *****

Magomed Umalatov
The 31-year-old welterweight, nicknamed “The Prince,” is undefeated in 14 pro fights, with 12 of those wins coming via stoppage. He fought on the Russian and European amateur circuits before going pro, then began his pro career with 10 straight stoppages before getting taken the distance.

***** *****

Shamil Musaev
The 30-year-old welterweight is 14-0-1 with 11 stoppages. “The Silent Assassin” has world-championship accolades in the Chinese martial art of Wusha Sanda. He’ll be making his PFL debut in 2024, having competed most recently in the KSW promotion out of Poland, and the Russian Cagefighting Championship.

***** *****

Gadzhi Rabadanov
The 30-year-old lightweight is 20-4-2 with 11 stoppages as a pro. He specializes in combat sambo, a Russian martial art. Radadanov first fought in PFL in 2019, but had spent the last three years competing in Bellator, the MMA promotion that PFL acquired in November 2023.

***** *****

Timur Khizriev
The 28-year-old featherweight is 14-0 as a pro with four stoppages. “Imam” is another Bellator veteran who fought on what wound up being the company’s final event, scoring a unanimous decision win over Justin Gonzales at Bellator 301 in November 2023.