The Professional Fighters League had the final night of their 2019 playoffs on Thursday, Oct 31 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
This event featured the men’s Light Heavyweight division (205lbs) and the men’s Heavyweight division (265lbs) Quarterfinals and Semifinals rounds.
Each division started the night off with eight fighters. After the Quarterfinals, that number was decreased to four, then to the final two fighters after the Semifinals fights. The two remaining winners after the semifinals fights will advance to championship night of the PFL Playoffs on Dec 31 in New York City. There they’ll be competing for the $1 million grand prize and the championship belt.
The Light Heavyweight division kicked off the night with a matchup between the #1 seed Emiliano Sordi and the #8 seed Sigi Pesaleli. Sordi came out swinging hard and fast. He was able to land 17 strikes, compared to just one strike by Pesaleli, on his way to a first round technical knockout win. Sordi advanced to the semifinals to face the winner of Bozigit Ataev vs Viktor Nemkov.
The second Light Heavyweight Quarterfinals matchup featured the #4 seed Bozigit Ataev against the #5 seed Viktor Nemkov. This fight had a lot of back and forth action between the fighters. Both fighters were able to be successful while standing and on the ground. The fight ended in a Unanimous Draw (19-19 for all 3 judges), and Ataev was able to advance to the semifinals against Sordi due to winning the tiebreaker.
The third Light Heavyweight Quarterfinals featured a matchup between the #2 seed Maxim Grishin and the #7 seed Jordan Johnson. This was a matchup of Russia vs USA. The whole crowd seemed to be behind Johnson from the start, loud chants of “USA” were echoing through the arena. Johnson was able to get out ahead early and control the match with his takedowns and ground work. He would go on to win the fight via Majority Draw (19-19, 19-19, 20-18) and was selected by all three judges to win the tiebreaker.
The final Light Heavyweight division Quarterfinals matchup featured the #3 seed, and 2018 Runner-up, Vinny Magalhaes and the #6 seed Rashid Yusupov. Magalhaes was looking to make an appearance in the championship fight for the second year in a row. However, Yusupov had other ideas. Rashid was able to surprise Magalhaes with a right hook mid way through the first round to secure a win via knockout and move onto the semifinals to face Jordan Johnson.
After these fights, the Semifinals were set. The first fight would be between #6 Rashid Yusupov and #7 Jordan Johnson. The second fight would be between #1 Emiliano Sordi and #4 Bozigit Ataev. But first, it was time for the men’s Heavyweight division Quarterfinals round.
The first Heavyweight Quarterfinals fight featured the #4 seed Kelvin Tiller against the #5 seed Ali Isaev. Isaev dominated this fight from the beginning. He was able to out strike Tiller 195 to 2. The majority of this fight was on the ground after Isaev was successful with each takedown attempt in each round. He landed 194 out of 195 of his total strikes on the ground. Isaev won the fight via Unanimous Decision (17-20, 17-20, 16-20) to advance to the semifinals against the winner of Denis Goltsov vs Satoshi Ishii.
The second Heavyweight Quarterfinals fight featured the #2 seed Muhammed Dereese and the #7 seed Jared Rosholt. Dereese started strong by getting in a dominant position on Rosholt early. All signs were pointing to Dereese winning the fight by TKO due to the amount of punches he was landing on Rosholt. However, Rosholt was able to withstand the fury and reverse the position. After getting in a dominant position, Rosholt was able to land some huge punches to the head of Dereese. Rosholt won the fight via technical knockout to advance to the semifinals against the winner of Alex Nicholson vs Francimar Barroso.
The third Heavyweight fight featured the #1 seed Denis Goltsov and the #8 seed Satoshi Ishii. As expected, Goltsov controlled the fight from the start. He out struck Ishii 50 to 6 throughout the fight. Goltsov won the fight via Majority Decision (20-18, 20-18, 19-19) and was selected by the judges to win the tiebreaker.
In the final Heavyweight Quarterfinals matchup, it was the #3 seed Alex Nicholson against the #6 seed Francimar Barroso. This fight was back and forth, but Barroso was able to take advantage of his attacking by getting two knockdowns and completed four of his five takedown attempts. Barroso was able to get the win via Unanimous Decision (19-18, 19-18, 20-17). After the fight, Barroso was forced to withdraw because he was unable to continue fighting the next round. Nicholson was supposed to step in for Barroso, but he was unable to get medically cleared by the commission. This opened the gate for Kelvin Tiller to step in and advance to the Heavyweight Semifinals.
The Heavyweight Semifinals were set. The first fight would be between #6 Francimar Barroso and #7 Jared Rosholt. The second fight would be between #1 Denis Goltsov and #4 Kelvin Tiller.
In the first Light Heavyweight Semifinal, it was the #6 seed Rashid Yusupov against the #7 seed Jordan Johnson. The fight got off to a slow start, but Johnson was able to wear down Yusupov during the second and third rounds. He was able to out strike Yusupov in those rounds 90 to 10. Johnson was also successful on three of his five takedown attempts in those rounds. Johnson won the fight via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 29-27, 30-26) to advance to the Light Heavyweight Championship fight.
In the second Light Heavyweight Semifinal, it was the #1 seed Emiliano Sordi against the #4 seed Bozigit Ataev. Ataev was able to land a good shot on Sordi to get the early knockdown in the first round. However, Sordi was able to comeback from that early scare to gain a dominant position on Ataev while they wrestled on the ground. Sordi was able to get into a good position and lock in a rear-naked chokehold for a win in the first round. He will be advancing to the Light Heavyweight Championship fight to face Jordan Johnson.
In the first Heavyweight Semifinal, it was the #4 seed Kelvin Tiller against the #7 seed Jared Rosholt. The majority of this fight was spent on the ground, after Rosholt was able to successfully complete his takedown attempts in each round. All but two of Rosholt’s strikes we on the ground (28 out of 30). Rosholt was able to get the win via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) and advanced to the Heavyweight Championship fight.
In the final fight of the night, it was the last Heavyweight Semifinal. The #1 seed Denis Goltsov was going up against the #5 seed Ali Isaev. Isaev came into this fight undefeated and was looking to continue his streak with an upset win over the top ranked fighter of the Heavyweight tournament. He was able to keep his record intact by getting a win via TKO in the third round and advanced to the Heavyweight Championship fight against Jared Rosholt.
All of the fights for championship night are now set. Championship night will take place on Tuesday Dec 31 in New York City. All fighters will be competing for a championship belt, the $1 million prize and bragging rights for the next year.
Heavyweight Division: Ali Isaev vs Jared Rosholt
Light Heavyweight Division: Emiliano Sordi vs Jordan Johnson
Men’s Lightweight Division: Natan Schulte vs Loik Radzhabov
Welterweight Division: Ray Cooper III vs David Michaud
Featherweight Division: Lance Palmer vs Daniel Pineda
Women’s Lightweight Division: Kayla Harrison vs Larissa Pacheco
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