Outside Source
Johnny Eblen has waited patiently, and will now get his shot at redemption 364 days after losing his crown.
That moment will come on July 18 at Moody Center in Austin, Texas, as the Professional Fighters League on Wednesday revealed its plans for a rematch pitting PFL middleweight champion Costello van Steenis against the man he dramatically upset almost a year ago to the day.
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“This is the fight that fans have been asking for since the moment Costello secured the rear-naked choke in the final seconds of their first world championship fight,” PFL CEO John Martin stated in a news release. “There were a lot of opinions about how that fight ended, and both fighters have something to prove. Now we have a massive rematch with everything on the line, validation for ‘The Spaniard,’ or redemption for ‘Pressure.’ I can’t wait to see how it plays out on July 18.”
Eblen (17-1) was widely considered to be one of the best middleweights in the world before being upset by van Steenis on July 19, 2025. The former Bellator MMA 185-pound champion also continued his reign in PFL when the promotion took over Bellator. Eblen was a massive -550 favorite going into his title defense against van Steenis last year and appeared to be controlling the action throughout the match. However, the Spaniard handed Eblen his lone professional loss by choking him unconscious with nine seconds left in one of the biggest upsets in PFL title fight history. Eblen has since rebounded with a first-round submission of Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Bryan Battle.
“I got to get that belt back,” Eblen yelled in the cage after dismantling Battle. “Costello if you’re watching, I’m coming for you baby, revenge. Let’s go, revenge!”
Fighters often say that you are not a champion until you have defended the belt, and Van Steenis established himself as a rightful king when he successfully retained the title with a Round 3 technical knockout of Fabian Edwards on March 20 in Madrid, Spain.
“I wanted this rematch with Eblen from the moment the first fight ended,” said van Steenis in Wednesday’s news release. “There’s still a lot being said about that first result, and I’m looking forward to proving, definitively, that I’m the better fighter on July 18.”
July 18’s main card will air live on ESPN 2 in the U.S. at 8 p.m. ET. The prelims kick off at 5 p.m. ET on the ESPN App. Tickets are available now at pfl.info/austin.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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