It's the third week of June, and you know what that means in MMA. With the PFL postseason approaching August, the playoff brackets are being finalized. A week ago Thursday, PFL4 took place at Mohegan Sun Arena, and the heavyweight and women's flyweight playoffs were decided, with no fighters withdrawing.
The next two Friday nights will finalize brackets for the remaining four divisions. PFL 5 will take place this week in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, home court of the University of Utah Runnin' Utes men's and women's basketball teams.
Live coverage begins Friday at 5pm ET/2pm PT on ESPN+ and continues on ESPN at 8pm ET/8pm PT. This week, lightweight and light heavyweight competitors will gather in the SmartCage to battle for a spot in this year's postseason. The winner of Friday's card will advance to PFL 8 on August 16 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida.
Collard and Burnell at crossroads in PFL 5 main event
The highlight of the night will be a 155-pound bout in the main event of PFL 5, as Clay Collard (25-12, 1 NC MMA, 1-0 2024 PFL, 5 standings points) takes on currently last-placed Mads Burnell (18-6, 0-1 2024 PFL, 0 standings points) looking to clinch a playoff berth in August.
Like all PFL main events leading up to the semifinals, the PFL 5 main event is advertised as a maximum of three rounds with five minutes per round at the end of the show.
The main event and co-main event will be held on June 21st.Follow x Mad BurnellKing Impala x Jacob Nedow
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[#PFLRegularSeason | Fri, June 21 | 5pm ET on ESPN+ | 8pm ET on ESPN ] pic.twitter.com/85mYfA0wEf
— PFL (@PFLMMA) June 18, 2024
2024 PFL 5 Main Event Fighter Comparison and Betting Odds
Coming into Friday night's PFL 5 main event, Clay Collard is 6 feet tall compared to Mads Burnell's 5'8″ frame. Collard has a six-inch reach advantage over Burnell (74 inches vs. 68 inches) and a five-inch leg reach advantage (41 inches vs. 36 inches).
Currently, oddsmakers have Clay Collard set as a -298 favorite on the moneyline and Mads Burnell as a +240 underdog. If you plan on betting on this or any other MMA fight this weekend, please bet responsibly.
Collard competes in front of his home crowd
Clay Collard enters the main event with a 3-2 record in his last five bouts, and Friday's bout will mark his third appearance already in 2024.
His last fight was on April 12th at PFL2 when he scored a standing TKO (punches) in the second round against Patrick Pitbull (Freire) (25-13 MMA, 0-1 2024 PFL, 0 points in the standings). If the PFL regular season ended today, Clay Collard would enter the lightweight playoffs as the second seed, but missed out on the number one seed due to a slower second round finish than Michael Dufort (13-4 MMA, 1-0 2024 PFL, 5 points in the standings) as Dufort stopped Burnell at 1 minute 32 seconds of the second round while Collard finished Pitbull at 1 minute 32 seconds of the second round.
Last month, he spoke to our Andrew Benjamin about the fighting in his native Utah.
“I love it,” Collado began, “I love competing in front of my guys, my friends, my family and everyone that supports me, so I practice hard for all of them, so that I can go out there and be there and perform live. I just want to earn their support.” [of] I'm trying to channel that energy into creating great songs.”
If there's ever a true “home game” for Clay Collard, it'll be the main event of PFL 5. Can he clinch a playoff spot in front of his friends and family?
Mads Burnell's odds are against him in PFL 5 main event
Meanwhile, Mads Burnell has won two and lost three of his last five fights. On April 12, Burnell was submitted (guillotine choke) in the second round by the aforementioned Michael Dufort at PFL 2. Despite his unlikely chances of making the playoffs, Burnell hasn't given up on the idea.
“That would be great, but that's not on my mind,” Burnell told MMAJunkie about the $1 million jackpot that will be awarded to the winner. “I didn't come into this tournament thinking about the million dollars. still “I ain't thinking about a million bucks. I ain't thinking about killing (expletive deleted). That's it. If you keep killing it, eventually a million bucks will be in my bank account.”
Time will tell if he can be a disruptor.
Analysis, Film Study and Predictions
Stylistically, the main event of PFL 5 is likely to favor first degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Mads Burnell over the status of boxer Clay Collado.
Watch Corrado swing away
Given Clay Collard's professional boxing background, it's only natural that he'll be giving it his all on Friday night – something Patrick Pitbull knows firsthand from his bout back in April.
Midway through the second round, Collado closed in on Pitbull and started throwing a variety of punches. Pitbull tried desperately to defend himself, but “Cassius” was just too hard to take down. If Clay Collado can land the first big punch in the PFL 5 main event, he'll be guaranteed the win.
Burnell can get the job done quickly.
Meanwhile, cornerback Mads Burnell is also a mobile player, as seen in his 2019 game against Ahmed Villa.
Less than 20 seconds into the Cage Warriors bout, Burnell got a takedown, grappled and secured the Japanese Tie just 50 seconds in. If Mads Burnell could pounce on Clay Collard in a quick move, he could pull off an upset and shake up the playoff bracket.
Final thoughts
Don't be fooled by these fighters' placement on the standings, the PFL 5 main event has the potential to be a fantastic fight.
Prediction: Clay Collard wins by 2nd round KO.
