{"id":37285,"date":"2026-03-19T17:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Joe-Schilling-to-return-at-PFL-Brussels-against-fellow-exkickboxer-200521"},"modified":"2026-03-19T17:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:45:14","slug":"joe-schilling-to-return-at-pfl-brussels-against-fellow-ex-kickboxer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/joe-schilling-to-return-at-pfl-brussels-against-fellow-ex-kickboxer\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Schilling to return at PFL Brussels against fellow ex-kickboxer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

At the tender age of 42, \u201cStitch \u2018em Up\u201d Joe
\nSchilling<\/a> is going to test himself in the confines of the
\n
\nProfessional Fighters League<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n

A Middleweight
\nWorld Title Fight headlines PFL Madrid: Tune in LIVE, Friday, March
\n20 at 12 p.m. ET<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

After over six years away from the sport of MMA, former Glory<\/a>
\nkickboxing standout Schilling (4-6) will be coming back to compete
\nin a cage again. The PFL released<\/a>
\nthe news of his next fight on Thursday, which will take place at
\n
\nPFL Brussels<\/a> on May 23. There, he will square off inside of the
\nING Arena with fellow former kickboxer Donegi
\nAbena<\/a>, who will be making his professional debut.<\/p>\n

The one-time welterweight will be taking this match in Brussels,
\nBelgium, at 205 pounds, in what will be his first MMA bout since
\nOctober 2019. At Bellator 229, Schilling saw his lone career win
\nstreak come to a crashing halt when Tony
\nJohnson<\/a> put him away with one punch. This also spelled the end
\nto his time with Bellator MMA<\/a>, as the six-fight Bellator vet
\ncould not get a license<\/a> to compete again and was released from
\nhis contract.
\nMMA Junkie<\/a> was the first to break this news, reporting it
\nshortly before the PFL posted it on its social media.<\/p>\n

From Glory to PFL<\/h2>\n

Suriname\u2019s Abena served as Glory\u2019s light heavyweight champ, winning
\nit against Sergej Maslobojev in 2023 and defending it once against
\nMohamed Touchassie. He surrendered it in a split call against Tarik
\nKhbabez, and although he avenged the loss a few months later,
\nKhbabez got the better of him in their rubber match. Khbabez once
\nmore prevailed by split decision, and decided to take some time
\naway from kickboxing. The man known as \u201cSilverback\u201d was briefly
\nlinked to an MMA match against Paolo
\nAnastasi<\/a> in 2022, but that fell apart for unknown reasons.<\/p>\n

PFL Brussels Lineup:<\/h2>\n

Patrick
\nHabirora<\/a> vs. Benson
\nHenderson<\/a> \u2013 Welterweight
Taylor
\nLapilus<\/a> vs. Jake Hadley<\/a>
\n\u2013 Bantamweight
Boris
\nMbarga Atangana<\/a> vs. Jared
\nGooden<\/a> \u2013 Middleweight
Baris
\nAdiguzel<\/a> vs. Gustavo
\nOliveira<\/a> \u2013 Bantamweight
Asael
\nAdjoudj<\/a> vs. Keisuke
\nSasu<\/a> \u2013 Featherweight
Donegi
\nAbena<\/a> vs. Joe
\nSchilling<\/a> \u2013 Light heavyweight

<\/p>\n
\n

\ud835\ude4e\ud835\ude4f\ud835\ude3c\ud835\ude49\ud835\ude3f \ud835\ude50\ud835\ude4b \ud835\ude52\ud835\ude3c\ud835\ude4d! \ud83d\udca5<\/p>\n

Former GLORY Light Heavyweight Champion Donegi Abena makes his PFL
\ndebut against Kickboxing legend Joe Schilling at
\n#PFLBrussels<\/a> on Saturday May 23!<\/p>\n

Whose hand gets raised at The ING Arena?<\/p>\n

Tickets are selling FAST! \ud83c\udf9f\ufe0f https:\/\/t.co\/pNl0g5gQRE<\/a>\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/ThZbYUJ0r1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 PFL Europe (@PFLEurope)
\nMarch 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the tender age of 42, \u201cStitch \u2018em Up\u201d Joe Schilling is going to test himself in the confines of the Professional Fighters League in May. A Middleweight World Title Fight headlines PFL Madrid: Tune in LIVE, Friday, March 20 at 12 p.m. ET. Advertisement After over six years away from the sport of MMA, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}