Latvia’s Aleksandrs “Pretty Boy” Čižovs and Italy’s Claudio Pacella are officially set to face off in a 2025 PFL Europe lightweight tournament semifinal on Friday, September 26th. The fight will take place at Zenith Nantes Métropole in Nantes, France, as part of PFL Europe’s third event of the year.
Both fighters earned their semifinal berths with impressive quarterfinal victories in May and will now battle for a spot in the tournament final — as well as a chance at the PFL Europe title and $100,000 prize.
On the Rise: Aleksandrs Čižovs
Aleksandrs Čižovs (11–3) comes into the semifinal with momentum after a spectacular first-round knockout of Scotland’s Mark Ewen in the quarterfinals. Fighting on May 10th at PFL Europe 1 in Belfast, Čižovs floored Ewen with a perfectly timed left hook just 93 seconds into the opening round, then followed with ground strikes to seal the finish at 1:33 of Round 1.
The emphatic TKO broke Čižovs’ two-fight PFL losing skid and marked the first time he has advanced past the opening round of a PFL Europe playoff.
Ten of Čižovs’ 11 career victories have come by stoppage, with nine of those wins achieved in the first round of fights. This winning wave is sweet for a good reason as he had struggled in previous PFL Europe seasons: Čižovs went 1–2 in the league over 2022–24, suffering opening-round tournament losses to Spain’s Acoidan Duque in 2023 and Italy’s Daniele Scatizzi in 2024.
By breaking through to the semifinals this year, Čižovs is now one win away from a spot in the finals, aiming to become the first-ever Latvian fighter to capture a PFL Europe championship if he can go all the way.
Path to the Semis: Claudio Pacella
Claudio Pacella (6–2) punched his own ticket to the semifinals with a hard victory at PFL Europe 1 in Belfast. The Italian faced England’s Gavin “Big Tasty” Hughes in a quarterfinal that went the full three rounds.
Pacella, a judo black belt and product of Dublin’s famed SBG Ireland camp, traded heavy blows with Hughes and fended off multiple takedown attempts, ultimately doing enough to earn a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards (30–27, 29–28, 29–28). The win extended Pacella’s current winning streak to three and marked his fourth victory in his last five outings.
Pacella has been rising through the ranks since joining PFL Europe last year. He arrived as a former regional lightweight champion, having scored knockouts in three of his first four professional wins before signing with PFL. Pacella’s 2024 campaign in PFL Europe saw him stumble in his debut (a decision loss to Belgium’s Patrick Habirora), but he rebounded, closing out last year with consecutive wins over Mark Ewen and Oscar Ownsworth.
In fact, Pacella was the man who handed Scotland’s Mark Ewen his first career loss in 2024. That result foreshadowed Čižovs’ own quarterfinal triumph over Ewen this year and adds an interesting angle to the upcoming matchup.
What to Expect?
Now, Čižovs and Pacella will meet in Nantes on September 26th with a place in the PFL Europe lightweight tournament final on the line. This semifinal fight is part of the PFL Europe 3: Nantes card, which will also feature the other lightweight semifinal between England’s Connor Hughes and Spain’s Gino “Ghost Assassin” Van Steenis (the winners of the bracket’s remaining quarterfinals).Fortunately or not, the stakes could not be higher: the winner of Čižovs vs. Pacella will advance to the tournament final later this year, where a PFL Europe championship belt and a $100,000 grand prize await the last man standing. Under PFL Europe’s single-elimination format, fighters have “one shot to win three fights across the year” — quarterfinal, semifinal, and final — to claim the title in their weight class.
