Antonio Carlos Junior signs with PFL, debuts against Tom Lawlor
“The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3” winner and former Brazilian jiu -jitsu world champion Antonio Carlos Junior has signed with the PFL.
The 13-time UFC veteran will join the promotion’s upcoming 2021 season as a light heavyweight and is expected to face Tom Lawlor on April 29 at PFL 2021, Week 2, replacing Jordan Johnson, who withdrew from the initial booking.
As with all of the PFL’s upcoming regular season event, the card takes place at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. The night’s main card airs on ESPN2 following prelims on ESPN+.
MMA Junkie learned of the plans from two people with knowledge of the deal who asked to remain anonymous because the organization has yet to officially announce the signing.
Carlos Junior (10-5) won “TUF: Brazil 3” as a heavyweight in 2014, then fought once at light heavyweight in the UFC before moving down to middleweight for the remainder of his octagon run. The dangerous grappler picked up five of his seven career octagon victories via rear-naked choke, including a stretch of three consecutive wins over Eric Spicely, Jack Marshman and Tim Boetsch. However, his UFC run ended earlier this year following decision losses to Ian Heinisch, Uriah Hall and Brad Tavares.
Meanwhile, Lawlor (10-7) returns to action for the first time since suffering a unanimous decision loss to current UFC middleweight Deron Winn under the Golden Boy MMA banner in November 2018. Prior to that, Lawlor, who was still under contract with the UFC, served a two-year suspension that stemmed from a positive test for ostarine.
Denying any intentional wrongdoing, Lawlor was released from his UFC contract two months before his suspension ended. While serving his time, Lawlor tried his hand at pro wrestling, becoming a star for the Major League Wrestling promotion.
With the change to the card, the PFL 2021, Week 2 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN2, 9 p.m. ET)
- Rory MacDonald vs. David Michaud
- Ray Cooper III vs. Jason Ponet
- Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Tom Lawlor
- Chris Camozzi vs. Emiliano Sordi
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 5:30 p.m. ET)
- Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Joao Zeferino
- Smealinho Rama vs. Jordan Young
- Cezar Ferreira vs. Nick Roehrick
- Aleksei Kunchenko vs. Gleison Tibau
- Nikolay Aleksakhin vs. Sadibou Sy
- Marthin Hamlet vs. Dan Spohn