Rob Wilkinson is ready to do whatever it takes to keep the Professional Fighters League championship in Australia.

In 2022, Wilkinson (17-2, 4-0 PFL) made history after becoming the first PFL champion fighting out of Australia in promotional history. “Razor” cut through his opponents Bruce Souto, Viktor Pasta and Delan Monte before smashing Omari Akhmedov at the PFL championships event in November. On that occasion, Akhmedov was forced to retire by the cageside physician after taking much punishment in two rounds. Now, Wilkinson is looking to inaugurate the upcoming 2023 PFL Regular Season with a victory as he faces former Ultimate Fighting Championship title challenger Thiago Santos on April 1. While talking with Sherdog, Wilkinson expressed his excitement for the battle ahead of him, even if he doesn’t think his adversary is the same as he used to be.

“I'm very excited about this fight. I remember when I found out that he signed with the PFL last year before I won the title. I was excited because he is a big name. He's a big name, a former challenger of the title in the UFC. He's been in the top 10 for years and has been fighting pretty much the top five guys in the world over and over and over again. It's a really good chance for me to show how good I am and actually start getting in some of those rankings and some of that respect of being one of the best light heavyweights in the world. I'm just getting better and going into my prime. No disrespect to him, but I don't think he's the same fighter he used to be.”

(00:00) Intro

(00:33) Winning the 2022 PFL championship

(01:51) Defeating Akhmedov

(02:56) Training in the U.S.

(04:00) Josh Fremd’s shoutout

(05:08) Being the first PFL champion from Australia

(06:02) Celebrating the victory

(07:16) Preparing for Santos

(09:09) Finishing his opponents

(09:58) Outro