of the
Professional Fighters League.
The promotion announced on Thursday that it had picked up former
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship lightweight beltholder Franco
Tenaglia (5-2 MMA, 5-1 BK). The Argentina-born 155er will be
debuting with the organization at PFL Madrid on March 20 at the Palacio
Vistalegre in Madrid, Spain, which also serves as his home city.
His opponent has yet to be announced.
The Spanish combatant leaves behind the bare-knuckle ranks for the
time being, although the PFL did not state the contract was
exclusive as fighters on its roster occasionally can compete
elsewhere. With BKFC, Tenaglia never lost a match, winning all five
of his appearances that culminated in his picking up a title. When
planned on putting it on the line in 2025 in a rematch with the man
in Tony
Soto whom he won it against, visa issues forced him out of the
pairing. As a result, BKFC stripped his belt and forced him to
enter a tournament to win it back.
Plenty of Bare-Knuckle Experience
In addition to his five forays at BKFC, he tested himself at a
Spanish gala event in 2023 called Dogfight Wild Tournament. He fell
short by split decision, and has not lost in BK ever since. He also
stopped off for a mixed-rules bout at defunct Polish league Wotore,
where he won using elbow strikes.
Starting his pro MMA career a few months after a pair of
bare-knuckle stints, “El Rey de la Calle”—which translates to “King
of the Street”—has picked up five victories thus far. All five of
his wins have come against opponents with records of .500 or
lesser, and he has notched four finishes across those five
triumphs. On the other hand, the two men to defeat him entered with
pro records of 4-0 and 3-0, and both stopped him inside the
distance. Last year, Tenaglia rattled off a pair of first-round
rear-naked chokes at War MMA in Spain.
𝙒𝙀𝙇𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝙏𝙊 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙁𝙍𝘼𝙉𝘾𝙊 𝙏𝙀𝙉𝘼𝙂𝘼𝙇𝙄𝘼 𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙒!
🇦🇷😤Franco Tenagalia has officially signed with the Professional
Fighters League!“The King of the Street” will make his PFL Debut at
#PFLMadrid! Be there on March 20th!
🎟️🔗 https://t.co/mWUc2ZlNVo…
pic.twitter.com/pMKfnY7jJe— PFL (@PFLMMA)
February 5, 2026