Approaching two years since he last fought in MMA, former UFC fighter Tyson Pedro says he’ll be back in the sport in 2026.
The 34-year-old Australian on Monday told Ariel Helwani (H/T Jed I. Goodman) he has signed with the PFL and will make his debut in the promotion next year. The PFL has not made a formal announcement of Pedro’s signing, and Pedro did not reveal his opponent or when he would premiere in the organization.
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After Pedro (10-5) left the UFC in 2024, he move to boxing, but had two fights canceled in 2024 – once when he pulled out against Kris Terzievski, and a second time when Terzievski withdrew the day of the fight. He debuted in the sport earlier this year with a seventh-round TKO win over Taimoor Khan, but another booking against Terzievski was scrapped in July.
“(I’m) just mixing it up. There’s so much going on in the boxing world, and I didn’t really understand the complexities of it,” Pedro told Helwani. “I almost retired from fighting, and then I hooked up with my new team, got an offer from PFL – they reached out, and I was all for it.”
Pedro joked that he’d be fighting former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who hasn’t fought in more than a year and has just one bout for the PFL, but he’ll be competing for the promotion as a light heavyweight.
Pedro has all 10 of his MMA wins by stoppage, and all have come in the first round. He has an equal mix of knockouts and submissions and went 6-4 during his UFC run. The two biggest wins of his career came in his first two UFC fights – submissions of future light heavyweight title challenger Khalil Rountree Jr. in 2016 and crafty submission specialist Paul Craig in 2017.
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After a rough 1-3 stretch that culminated in a loss to former champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Pedro stepped away from the UFC for roughly 3.5 years. When he returned, he won three of his next four by knockout.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: 11-fight UFC vet Tyson Pedro says he’s signed with PFL for 2026 debut
