Luxembourg-Based MMA Fighter Pereira Draws Nigerian Semi-Final Opponent

Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced the next fight for Luxembourg-based professional fighter Rivaldo Pereira, who will face Nigeria's David Samuel in the semi-finals of the PFL Africa welterweight tournament on Saturday 10 October 2026 in Casablanca, Morocco.

Rivaldo "Don Pepas" Pereira advanced to the semi-finals following his first-round TKO victory over Nigeria's Kunle Lawal at PFL Africa 1 in Pretoria in April 2026. The victory came on his debut in the organisation and left the Luxembourg-based fighter two wins away from claiming the tournament title and its $100,000 prize.

His next opponent, David Samuel, represents Nigeria and enters the semi-final with an undefeated professional record of six victories.

Speaking to Chronicle.lu about his preparations for the fight, 29-year-old Pereira confirmed that he has already started his training camp in Luxembourg: "I already started my training camp. I train in the morning. Sometimes I go running in the morning, ten kilometres, and sometimes I go to the fitness to do the workouts. I train in the evening, wrestling, Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu and MMA."

The fighter noted that he plans to continue training primarily in Luxembourg until the fight, while occasionally travelling to other academies for sparring: "On my plan, I guess I'm still training here until the fight in Luxembourg and sometimes on Fridays maybe I'll go to another academy, near Trier, or to other academies to do sparring."

Rivaldo Pereira is also considering travelling to Brazil as part of his preparations, depending on the plans of his coach, Fabrício Ribeiro: "I'm looking with my coach [Fabrício Ribeiro] if he will go to Brazil to train there, but he's still seeing that."