Joe Schilling made his return to mixed martial arts on Saturday at PFL Brussels, moving to light heavyweight to face Donegi Abena at the ING Arena in Brussels, Belgium.
The kickboxer’s first MMA fight since 2019 didn’t last long, and ended in controversial fashion when Schilling was left irate after being headbutted on the ground.
With Abena getting the fight down early, Schilling had a chance to show whether he’d improved his ground game, but soon enough, Abena threw a very blatant headbutt from inside Schilling’s guard. Referee Mike Beltran immediately yelled stop while Schilling called out “headbutt” and pushed Abena off of him.
An irate Schilling briefly got in Abena’s face before Beltran ushered him away, with “Stitch ’em Up” overheard exclaiming “f*ck that, headbutt?!? Fight’s over. Fight’s over!” It was not, however, a DQ, with ref Beltran instead choosing to deduct a point.
Still fuming, Schilling initially didn’t seem like he was willing to continue, but continued to glare at Abena across the cage and eventually relented. That allowed Beltran to put him back on the ground, with Abena on top, only for Schilling to become upset again when Abena was awarded double overhooks. “F*cking foul and you’re going to give me bad position? F*ck this, fight’s over!” an increasing agitated Schilling said after getting back to his feet.
That led to Ateba being awarded a TKO victory via Schilling’s retirement from the fight, despite the obvious foul. After briefly getting in Abena’s face again before being separated, Schilling hollered “that’s your boy, that’s who you sign? PFL that’s your boy?” to promotion officials before the result was announced.
Schilling (4-7 MMA), a tournament champion in GLORY in his heyday, hasn’t won a fight in MMA since a decision over Keith Barry in Bellator in 2019. His last action came in Karate Combat, where he was knocked out by Luke Rockhold.
Donegi Abena, a kickboxer himself, was making his MMA debut in the fight. The win, such as it was, came 37 seconds in.
Not a fight, clearly, that Joe Schilling will remember fondly.
😱 C’EST DU JAMAIS VU !
Joe Schilling met fin au combat après avoir pris un coup de tête de son adversaire, parce qu’il n’est pas d’accord avec la position pour reprendre l’action ! pic.twitter.com/hggZdvQlsU
— RMC Sport Combat (@RMCSportCombat) May 23, 2026
