PFL 10 results and highlights: Cooper III advances to WW final

The tenth edition of Professional Fighter’s league revealed the finalists for the welterweight and middleweight tournaments, in Washington, D.C.

The Professional Fighters League middleweight and welterweight tournaments have its official finalists.

Following a rather interesting event in Washington, D.C., on Saturday night, October 20, the winning athletes are now just one fight away from the one million dollars prize. The tournaments’ finals will now be decided at PFL 11, on December 31, in New York City.

In the welterweight division, number-one seed, Ray Cooper III, won both of his outings via first-round TKO, making quick work of both Jake Shields and Handesson Ferreira. His future opponent, Magomed Magomedkerimov, number-three seed, bested Pavlo Kusch via unanimous decision and knocked out Bojan Velickovic in the semifinals.

In the middleweight fights, number-two seed, Louis Taylor, advanced to the finals with a unanimous decision win over Rex Harris and a tiebreaker victory over John Howard in the semis, which was awarded after “Doomsday” was unable to continue because of an illegal knee and the fight ended as a technical draw. Taylor’s opponent and number-one seed, Abus Magomedov moved onto the finals with a tiebreaker win against Gasan Umalatov and a dominating unanimous decision victory over Sadibou Sy in the semifinal bout.

Check out full results, and some highlights, below:

Semifinals:

Welterweight: Magomed Magomedkerimov def. Bojan Velickovic via TKO (punches), Round 2 (3:13)

A short notice replacement for injured Joao Zeferino, the number-two seed, Abubakar Nurmagomedov got himself back into the race with a wresting-oriented unanimous decision win over number-seven seed, Bojan Velickovic, in the first quarterfinal bout of the night, which was via tiebreaker. However, the Cinderella story didn’t last too long for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin because a hand injury suffered during the fight forced him out of the tournament’s semifinals, which made Bojan Velickovic advance.

Although he almost finished number-six seed Pavlo Kusch with a tight guillotine choke in the end of the first round, number-three seed Magomed Magomedkerimov advanced to the semis with a unanimous decision win.

In a rematch with a spot in the finals on the line, Magomed Magomedkerimov and Bojan Velickovic engaged in a thrilling fight. While Velickovic looked to hurt his opponent with counters, Magomedkerimov nullified his strategy with a precise takedown in the second half of the first round. Raining some shots from top control while trying to pass guard, Magomed stayed in Bojan’s guard until the bell.

After a brief scramble in the second round, Magomedkerimov picked up right after where he left off, working inside Velickovic’s guard from the opening seconds. After a failed guillotine attempt from Magomed, both fighters went back on their feet. Magomedkerimov hurt Bojan badly with a powerful straight right that caught his opponent against the fence. Some follow-up punches connected and Velickovic hit the ground and the fight was over. Magomed Magomedkerimov secures his place in the finals with a TKO wIn.

Middleweight: Louis Taylor def. John Howard via first-round tiebreaker after a technical draw due to an illegal knee

In a mostly uneventful affair, number-two seed Louis Taylor bested seventh seed, Rex Harris, in the first middleweight quarterfinal bout. Meanwhile, in a battle of UFC veterans, John Howard, seed number six, almost scored a TKO win in the closing seconds of the fight, but number-three seed, Eddie Gordon, managed to survive the onslaught, awarding a clear unanimous decision to “Doomsday.”

In the semifinals, Howard looked for takedown all through the first round, but Taylor stuffed them and forced a striking match between both gentlemen. In the last minute of the round, a jumping knee by Taylor wobbled Howard and Louis ended up on side control, on top of a woozy “Doomsday.” A failed guillotine attempt let Howard get back on his feet, but Taylor swiftly took him down again right before the bell.

Howard was still looking for the takedown, but couldn’t find it in the second round. After a few more exchanges, it was Taylor who scored the takedown again. John kicked Louis away and the fight was back on the feet, but Howard looks exhausted and was taken down one more time.

An illegal knee from Taylor hit a downed Howard in the face and the fight was stopped with mere seconds to go. Following much debating and a medical examination, the bout was waved off and scored a technical draw, but Louis Taylor advances to the finals due to the first-round tiebreaker rule.

Welterweight: Ray Cooper III def. Handesson Ferreira via TKO (punches), Round 1 (2:28)

Number-five seed, Handesson Ferreira, was on what it seemed to be a unanimous decision win via ground control, but number-four seed, Rick Story, called it quits just a little over one minute into the bout’s second round, verbally submitting from the fight after injury his right arm, awarding Ferreira a TKO victory and a spot in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, first seed, Ray Cooper III, once again brutalized number-eight seed Jake Shields, and finished him with a flurry of strikes on the ground in the first round, taking care of his opponent in even quicker fashion than the first they met.

Ray Cooper III made quick work of Handesson Ferreira in the second semifinal bout. The Hawaiian took his opponent down early into the fight and kept on grinding him out against the fence up until Cooper found enough room to connect with some powerful left hands that sent Ferreira face first to the canvas. Some additional punches secured the TKO and Ray Cooper III advances to the finals.

Middleweight: Abus Magomedov def. Sadibou Sy via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Even though number-five seed, Sadibou Sy, was heavily controlled on the ground in the second round, he still emerged victorious against fourth seed, Bruno Santos, via tiebreaker after a majority draw decision, which secured Sadibou’s spot in the semifinals.

The final quarterfinal bout, between number-one seed, Abus Magomedov, and number-eight, Gasan Umalatov, happened mostly on the feet, but in a sparring session pace. Without much action delivered from both fighters, the judges scored a majority draw, but Magomedov advanced due to the tiebreaker rule.

In the final bout, Magomedov tried some high kicks and jumping knees early into the fight, but Sy fired right back with middle and low kicks of his own. Sy almost hit Magomed flush with a head kick, but Abus answered with a jumping high kick that nearly missed. Both men continued to exchange strikes with little effectiveness until the bell.

A front kick to the groin of Sy briefly stopped the action early into the second round. After some exchanges, Magomedov switched up his strategy and scored a takedown against the fence, moving right into the mount position. An arm-triangle attempt from Abus could have ended the fight, but Sy managed to survive the round while still under Magomedov’s mount.

Another fence takedown from Magomedov got Sy to the ground early into the third round and straight into an attempted rear-naked choke. Although Sadibou defended the submission, Magomedov managed to scramble right into the full mount again. Sy was finally able to shake Magomedov off and took his opponent’s back himself, but lost the position and was slammed to the ground, where he stayed until the bell sounded, with Abus controlling him from side control.

With a clear win, Abus Magomedov defeated Sadibou Sy via unanimous decision and secured his place in the finals of the middleweight tournament.

Quarterfinals:

Welterweight: Abubakar Nurmagomedov def. Bojan Velickovic via first-round tiebreaker after a unanimous draw (19-19, 19-19, 19-19).

Middleweight: Louis Taylor def. Rex Harris via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18).

Welterweight: Magomed Magomedkerimov def. Pavlo Kusch via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18).

Middleweight: John Howard def. Eddie Gordon via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18).

Welterweight: Handesson Ferreira def. Rick Story via TKO (injury), Round 2 (1:15).

Middleweight: Sadibou Sy def. Bruno Santos via first-round tiebreaker after a majority draw (20-18, 19-19, 19-19).

Welterweight: Ray Cooper III def Jake Shields via TKO (punches), Round 1 (3:10)

Middleweight: Abus Magomedov def. Gasan Umalatov via first-round tiebreaker after a majority draw (20-18, 19-19, 19-19).