Crunching numbers by day and cracking faces at night, 2025 PFL World Tournament 2 headliner Josh Rettinghouse has quite the contrast between his two careers – the latter of which he doesn’t really need.
Rettinghouse (20-5), who replaced Magomed Magomedov, finds himself elevated into the main event of 2025 PFL 2 after an injury forced original main eventer Taila Santos out of her scheduled fight against Juliana Velasquez.
A shuffle of the fight card now has Rettinghouse’s first-round bantamweight tournament fight against Leandro Higo in the marquee spot. It was an unexpected move for the certified public accountant, who fancies himself as the best golfer in MMA, but he’s excited to headline a PFL event.
“(It’s a) big opportunity, feels right in my mind,” Rettinghouse told MMA Junkie Radio. “It’s exciting. It’s always exciting to be co-main, main event, on any show, but to do it on that stage is pretty cool.”
Rettinghouse, a competitor on Season 29 of “The Ultimate Fighter” has faced a few notable opponents throughout his career such as Marlon Moraes, Sergey Morozov and Brady Hiestand. At 35, Rettinghouse knows his fighting days are numbered, but hopes to make a noise in the PFL tournament, starting with a solid opponent in Higo.
“I think it’s a great fight for me,” Rettinghouse said. “I think style-wise, it makes a lot of sense for me. I think he’s actually kind of similar. I don’t feel like he’s super dangerous anywhere. I think he’s really good everywhere; I don’t think he’s great anywhere. I think it makes for a fun fight.
“I’ve been on this kind of outside looking in for a while, and I kept telling myself as I’m kind of getting toward the end of my career, if I’m going to make a splash, it needs be against a somewhere near the top 15 echelon of fighter – and I feel he’s right on that cusp.”
If things go well in the tournament and he pockets the $500,000 winning prize, Rettinghouse plans on taking his career one step at a time from that point. However, if he loses, he has come to an agreement with his wife that he’ll most likely hang up the gloves since they’re in a comfortable place financially with their regular day jobs.
“I keep telling her if I lose, I’m basically done,” Rettinghouse said. “I don’t think really feel like I can afford a loss at this point in my career, and so, you know, as long as I keep winning, we’ll see what happens.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for 2025 PFL World Tournament 2.
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