Van Steenis Retained as PFL Made Its Madrid Debut
Costello van Steenis retained the PFL middleweight championship by knocking out Fabian Edwards with elbows at 1:48 of round three on March 20, 2026. The title rematch headlined the promotion’s first Spanish event at Palacio Vistalegre in Madrid.
A champion and tournament winner met again
Van Steenis entered the event as the reigning middleweight champion, while Edwards arrived as the 2025 PFL middleweight tournament winner. Their rematch therefore joined two distinct championship achievements in the same headliner.
The result kept the divisional belt with van Steenis. Edwards’s tournament success had earned another major opportunity, but the third-round finish prevented him from converting it into the world championship.
McKee won a decision while other main-card fighters finished
A.J. McKee defeated Adam Borics unanimously, with scores of 30–27, 30–27 and 29–28. Franco Tenaglia stopped Yassin Najid after round two through a doctor’s intervention.
Jacinta Austin finished Benita van Rooij at 2:40 of the opening round. Linton Vassell also won inside the distance, stopping Jose Augusto with ground strikes at 2:48 of round two.
The preliminaries added another van Steenis knockout
Gino van Steenis knocked out Mark Ewen at 2:43 of round one, giving the brothers two stoppage victories on the same program. Luciano Pereira also finished Kevin Cordero in the first.
Borja Garcia, Mattia Giordano, Claudio Pacella and Ignacio Campos each won by unanimous decision. Those results completed a Madrid debut that mixed local interest with an international championship headliner.
Sources
Article Tags
Costello van Steenis, Fabian Edwards, PFL, PFL, MMA
