Clay Collard thought he did enough to win his semi-final matchup against Raush Manfio last night (Fri., Aug. 13, 2021) at PFL 7 and advance to the $1 million lightweight finale, but the former professional boxer was ultimately robbed by the judges.
Collard came into the semi-final contest riding a four-fight win streak, which included a decision win over former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis this past April. The fighter known as “Cassius” was as confident as ever in his matchup with Manfio and seemed to bring the perfect gameplan.
From the opening bell Collard was the one to push forward and bring the action to Manfio. He scored more total strikes, mixed it up to the head, body, and legs, and seemed to get the best of the clinch exchanges when they occurred. Manfio did come on strong in the third and final round, but most watching believed Collard had done enough to punch his ticket to the PFL lightweight tournament finale.
Unfortunately, the judges ruled the contest in favor of Manfio by way of unanimous decision. It was quite shocking to say the least. Check out the official scorecard below:
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After the fight, Collard caught up with MMA Junkie to discuss his controversial loss and how it feels to miss out on a potential $1 million payday.
“I mean, what do you want me to say? That s—t sucks,” said Collard. “I definitely got the first two rounds. Third round, he might have squeaked by.”
“I felt like I was trying to mix things up, I went for a few takedowns, I was even going for a few submissions like that, and he was just throwing slappy shots the whole time,” added Collard. “I feel like I did enough to win the fight, you know? The judges didn’t think that and he gets to go fight for a million dollars, so good for him.”
Collard, 28, was hoping to continue his combat resurrection and give himself a shot to take out Loik Radzhabov in the lightweight finale later this year. However, the MMA gods did not shine down on Collard at PFL 7 and he must now go back to the drawing board.
For complete PFL 7 results and coverage click HERE.