Ray Cooper III truly capitalized on a lucrative opportunity last night (Sat., Oct. 20, 2018) at PFL 10 live on NBCSN from inside St. Elizabeths East Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington D.C, when he finished Jake Shields and Handesson Ferreira via first-round TKOs to advance to the Professional Fighters League (PFL) $1 million welterweight tournament finale.
Cooper, 25, put a beating on Shields in the opening minutes of their quarter-final matchup. The Hawaiian knockout artist blasted the grappling expert with a perfectly-timed right hand counter along the cage. Shields dropped to the canvas and Cooper jumped on top for furious ground-and-pound en route to an eventual stoppage.
Check out the finish above courtesy of PFL.
Cooper’s dominate performance opposite Shields set him up for a semi-final showdown with Ferreira. During an exchange on the ground early into the first round, “Bradda Boy” leveled Ferreira with huge left hands. Ferreira tried to cover up by Cooper rained down even more offense before the referee jumped in for the TKO stoppage.
Check out the finish below courtesy of PFL:
The Braddah Boy cannot be contained! Welterweight Semifinal: #1 seed Ray Cooper III defeats #5 seed Handesson Ferreira by TKO in Round 1. Cooper advances to the PFL 2018 Championship at @HuluTheaterMSG for a shot at $1 Million! #PFLPlayoffs #MMA @HFboydoido pic.twitter.com/Sr71Se3ljm
— #PFLmma (@ProFightLeague) October 21, 2018
With these two equally impressive performances, Cooper now advances to the final round of PFL’s $1 million welterweight tournament, where he’ll meet Russian veteran Magomed Magomedkerimov, who defeated Bojan Velickovic and Pavlo Kusch en route to his own tournament finale birth.
The two will square off at the 2018 PFL Championship (PFL 11) on Dec. 31 live on NBCSN from inside Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.