PFL Brussels: Habirora vs. Henderson Preview: Full Fight Card Breakdown
The Professional Fighters League takes its European series to Brussels this Saturday, putting an unbeaten Belgian prospect against a former world champion returning from retirement. Patrick Habirora has finished all eight of his opponents — seven in the first round — and does it in front of his home crowd at the ING Arena. Benson Henderson is 42, spent three years away from MMA, and carries championship experience that has saved fighters from more dangerous situations than this.
Full Fight Card
| Fight | Weight Class | Card Section |
|---|---|---|
| Patrick Habirora vs. Benson Henderson | Welterweight | Main Card |
| Taylor Lapilus vs. Jake Hadley | Bantamweight | Main Card |
| Boris Mbarga Atangana vs. Jared Gooden | Middleweight | Main Card |
| Marcirley Alves vs. Naoki Inoue | Bantamweight | Main Card |
| Asaël Adjoudj vs. Keisuke Sasu | Featherweight | Main Card |
| Baris Adiguzel vs. Gustavo Oliveira | Bantamweight | Preliminary Card |
| Donegi Abena vs. Joe Schilling | Light Heavyweight | Preliminary Card |
| Movsar Ibragimov vs. Youssouf Binate | Bantamweight | Preliminary Card |
| Khamzat Abaev vs. Luca Poclit | Welterweight | Preliminary Card |
| Adam Meskini vs. Keweny Lopes | Featherweight | Preliminary Card |
| Rustam Serbiev vs. Ashley Reece | Welterweight | Preliminary Card |
Main Event: Habirora vs. Henderson
Habirora is 8-0 with seven first-round finishes. The Belgian knockout artist scored stoppages over UFC veterans Danny Roberts and Kevin Jousset, and comes into this fight as one of PFL Europe's most commercially appealing names. He's 25, the crowd is his, and the ING Arena will be loud from the opening bell.
Henderson walked away from MMA in October 2019 after a career that included the WEC Lightweight Championship and the UFC Lightweight Championship. The return is not a farewell tour — it's a calculated reset. He spent his years away competing in Karate Combat and Misfits Boxing, so he has not been idle. But MMA cage experience is specific, and 42 is 42.
Henderson's path runs through his wrestling and veteran game management. He's handled pressure fighters before. The championship pedigree and the southpaw stance give him tools to make this uncomfortable for a prospect who has never needed to survive late rounds. Habirora's path is simpler: he has not needed a round two in years, and he is fighting at home.
If Habirora lands his power shots early and Henderson cannot get this to the mat, it ends quickly. If Henderson neutralizes the first-round pressure and turns this into a grinding welterweight fight, the experience gap becomes a real factor.
Co-Main Event: Lapilus vs. Hadley
Taylor Lapilus arrives at 24-4 on a three-fight winning streak, with a recent third-round TKO breaking a finishing drought. The French bantamweight is a pressure-heavy southpaw with proven durability. Jake Hadley is 12-5 and answered doubts about his trajectory with a twister submission in his last PFL appearance — one of the rarest finishes in the sport.
Both are former UFC fighters who rebuilt their careers in PFL Europe. Hadley needs this on the mat, where his unorthodox submission game is most dangerous. Lapilus needs to keep it upright and punish every grappling entry with volume. The stylistic contrast makes this one of the cleaner matchups on the card.
Notable Fight: Alves vs. Inoue
This cross-promotional showcase is the card's most intriguing matchup on paper. Marcirley Alves won the 2025 PFL Bantamweight World Tournament — he entered as an alternate and went on a three-fight run to take the title. Naoki Inoue is a three-time RIZIN Bantamweight Champion loaned to PFL under a cross-promotional arrangement between the two organizations, bringing a 20-5 record that includes nine submission victories and a karate-based striking system.
Two champions from different competitive environments, squaring off in Belgium. Alves pushes pace and pressure, with ten stoppage wins in fourteen professional fights. Inoue counters from the outside with footwork and timing. This fight offers a legitimate benchmark between PFL's top bantamweight and RIZIN's best, and the result will be referenced when those divisions are compared.
Notable Fight: Abena vs. Schilling
Donegi Abena is making his MMA debut. He is also the former GLORY Light Heavyweight Champion and was ranked No. 1 in the world at that weight class as of 2024, with a 23-9 professional kickboxing record. Joe Schilling is a 42-year-old kickboxing and MMA veteran — 4-6 in MMA — returning from a six-and-a-half-year absence.
The question is not about Abena's striking. That part is answered. The question is whether he can handle the grappling dimensions of MMA against a veteran who knows how to use the cage. Schilling's edge is not his hands — Abena beats him there — it is his MMA-specific cage experience in positions Abena has not faced in professional competition. GLORY champions have made this transition at every level of success. Brussels finds out which category Abena falls into.
What to Watch
Three unbeaten fighters are on the main card: Habirora, Boris Mbarga Atangana (8-0, all finishes), and Asaël Adjoudj (10-1, three-time kickboxing world champion). PFL has built this show around Belgian and French prospect talent, and the Brussels crowd is the engine for all of it. The Alves versus Inoue cross-promotional fight sits quietly in the middle of the main card and may produce the most discussed result of the night. If the PFL-RIZIN experiment delivers a clear winner and a clean stylistic story, it becomes a data point for what PFL's bantamweight picture looks like against top-tier Japanese competition — and that conversation starts immediately after the final horn.