Canada's MMA superstar Rory MacDonald headlines PFL 5 after previous fighting masterclass

• Rory MacDonald headlines PFL 5 as the MMA league returns for action in June.
• An MMA veteran, MacDonald made his PFL debut last month and romped to a first-round win.
• The PFL 5 event features welterweight and light heavyweight fighters.

Canada's MMA superstar Rory MacDonald headlines PFL 5 on June 17 after a fighting masterclass on his PFL debut last month, in which he defeated Curtis Millender by rear-naked choke submission in the very first round.

PFL MMA is a relatively new entrant in the combat sports landscape but offers an alternative structure to the traditional one-on-one match-ups commonly seen in the UFC, where fighters compete for victories that can propel them up a rankings system until they could, one day, secure a title shot.

By contrast, PFL adheres to a league system not dissimilar to the NFL as it uses a regular season, a playoffs, and a finals. The end-of-season finals, contested on New Year's Eve, have a $1 million check at stake for athletes in five male weight classes, and one female division.

Though PFL postponed its 2020 season so it could preserve the integrity of its league set-up, it restarted its live events business in April and returns for another series of events with PFL 4 broadcast on ESPN from the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City on June 10. Elite women's boxer Claressa Shields makes her MMA debut against Brittney Elkin on the main card.

The following week, June 17, sees welterweights and light heavyweights reenter the mix with the following fights on ESPN2:

• Rory MacDonald vs. Gleison Tibau
• Ray Cooper III vs. Nikolai Aleksakhin
• Emiliano Sordi vs. Dan Spohn
• Cezar Ferreira vs. Chris Camozzi

Former champion Magomed Magomedkerimov fights Curtis Millender on the ESPN+ undercard.

There were a lot of exciting first round finishes that took place in the first half of the season for the welterweight and light heavyweight divisions and all of these fighters know it may take another first round victory to seal their fates in the playoffs," Ray Sefo, the PFL President of Fighter Operations, said in a statement sent to Insider.

"All these fighters can still qualify for the PFL playoffs and know it will be a challenge as they face a win or go home scenario."

The final regular season event takes place June 25.