PFL suffered major hits ahead of the April 11 show in Orlando, the second card of the 2025 season being forced to change the main event twice, and Juliana Velasquez was one of the athletes affected by last-minute switches.
The former Bellator flyweight champion was set to headline the event against Taila Santos in the first round of the 2025 PFL tournament, and was ultimately demoted to the prelims when Katerina Shakalova stepped in to replace Santos.
“I knew [about the change] the moment I hopped off the plane in Orlando,” Velasquez told MMA Fighting. “My initial reaction was, ‘I’m ready. The job was already done in camp.’ I didn’t train with anyone as tall as Taila, I basically trained with short grapplers, so it won’t affect me as much. When a fighter is ready, she’s ready for whoever comes.
“It’s a short tournament and it’s a fight after another so you can’t do specific training for one fighter. There’s also anti-doping [tests] with USADA and possible injuries, so there’s always an alternate ready to step in. You have to be ready for anything. Anything can happen, including changing the opponent.”
Velasquez kept checking on Santos’ social media posts and despite the boxing footage being released, she expected the former UFC title contender to go for takedowns on Friday. And even though she’s ready to face whoever, Velasquez admits that having a victory over Santos on her record would mean more than beating Shakalova.
“I think that would give me more credibility, but I can’t forget everything I’ve done,” Velasquez said. “I’m a former champion. I don’t like fighting Brazilians, I’ve always said that. I never did but Taila is a good name, a tough athlete, and it would be nice to fight someone like her right off the bat in the [tournament]. But a fight is a fight, there’s no other way around it. I don’t underestimate any athlete because any moment of distraction can be fatal.”
Velasquez said she’s ready to go three rounds against Shakalova but is looking for a quick finish. Barring last-minute changes, the winner advances to the semifinal to take on whoever emerges from Jena Bishop vs. Kana Watanabe. The other side of the bracket has Liz Carmouche vs. Ilara Joanne and Elora Dana vs. Diana Avsaragova as quarterfinal matches.
“I believe [Carmouche] will win and advance in the tournament, but she’s fighting a Brazilian and it’s hard for me to say I’m rooting for her,” said Velasquez, who aims to get revenge after losing three times in a row to Carmouche between 2022 and 2024.
“I don’t root for anyone, I root for myself, but I always prefer to see Brazilians winning when there’s a Brazilian involved. But I think we’ll still meet again one day.”
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