Tag: PFL Championship 2019

Slo-mo millionaires: Recap the PFL Championship finals in their super-slow-motion ‘Fight Flow’ highlights

Relive the best moments from the 2019 PFL Championship finals in the Professional Fighters League’s super-slow-motion highlights recap.

In mixed martial arts everything can change in the blink of an eye, and the true skill and artistry of the fighters can sometimes only truly be seen when you slow the action right down and watch it again.

And, as the Professional Fighters League draws a line under their 2019 season, the organization has released a final highlights video showing their big winners in the best possible light at their end-of-season finale at the Hulu Theater in New York.

Six fighters were crowned PFL 2019 season champions as Emiliano Sordi, Ali Isaev, Natan Schulte, Ray Cooper III, Lance Palmer and Kayla Harrison won their respective tournament finals and each picked up a championship belt and check for $1 million for their efforts.

Check out the best moments from the fight card via the video above as the PFL Championship winners, plus featherweight showcase winner Brendan Loughnane, claimed big wins on a big night in the Big Apple.

Ray Sefo’s bucket list for 2020 includes signing more big name fighters

PFL president Ray Sefo has goals of building on his roster and signing more big-name fighters to the promotion.

NEW YORK – PFL president Ray Sefo is looking to build on his roster.

The 2019 PFL Championship took place at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, marking one of the biggest shows in the promotion’s short history. Once again, six fighters walked away with world titles and $1 million.

And having recently signed former Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald, Sefo said the goal is to continue to sign some marquee names in the sport.

“(I want to) sign more big name fighters (and) continue to grow,” Sefo said at the post-fight news conference. “But my phone was going off like crazy throughout the show because everybody got to see the PFL show tonight and got to see all the champions get crowned.

“It just goes to show that we’re continuing to grow. And then adding someone like Rory to the mix, the sky’s the limit for PFL – and there’s a lot of discussions with other people that are interested and want to come over.”

Also on the agenda moving forward is the possibility of superfights. Featherweight champ Lance Palmer and lightweight champ Natan Schulte were two names that were brought up as suggestions for a potential superfight, and while only Palmer seemed quite keen, Sefo likes the idea in general.

“There’s a lot in the works for PFL, and those were part of discussions along the way,” Sefo said. “Not necessarily Natan and Lance, but we talked about doing some superfights and whatnot. But that’s part of the plan. Whether it happens next year or the year after that, I’m not sure exactly. But there are discussions in terms of putting on some superfights.”

The ESPN deal was arguably the biggest development for the promotion this year, giving the fighters the largest platform possible, to showcase their skills.

“ESPN has been great,” Sefo said. “I mean, they’ve been a great partner and the fact we’re on ESPN speaks volumes. It just goes to show that – and it sends a message out there – that PFL is here and that we’re alive and well and we’re going to continue to sign some big names and continue to grow.”

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PFL champ Emiliano Sordi wants to inspire kids back home in Argentina

As the first Argentinian to win a world title in a major promotion, Emiliano Sordi wants to inspire kids back home.

NEW YORK – [autotag]Emiliano Sordi[/autotag] made history Tuesday night.

Sordi (22-8 MMA, 6-1 PFL) took out Jordan Johnson (12-2-1 MMA, 2-2-1 PFL) in the first round at the 2019 PFL Championship at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York to become the first Argentinian to win a world championship in a major organization.

And Sordi hopes he can inspire kids back home to follow in his footsteps someday.

“I wanted to be the first Argentinian world champion, and it’s an example for other guys and other kids to see that you can make it from there. I hope next season we see more Argentinians in the PFL,” Sordi said through a translator at the post-fight press conference.

It’s been a tough road for Sordi, who’s fallen short on numerous occasions, but kept on fighting. From a short Bellator tenure, to getting choked out in just 26 seconds in Dana White’s Contender Series in 2018, to getting eliminated in last year’s playoffs, Sordi turned things around in 2019.

He went 5-0, with five finishes, en route to capturing the light heavyweight title and $1 million.

One of the things that helped propel him to his run was working with a mental coach.

“He started one month before the tournament started,” Sordi’s translator said. “And his problem was that he get the fights very relaxed, like the opposite of the people who get nervous for the fight, he was very relaxed so he was needing to get in the right point.”

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Natan Schulte says leg kicks a big part of his strategy to outlast Loik Radzhabov for second PFL title

Natan Schulte credits the leg kicks as a big part of the strategy in outlasting Loik Radzhabov.

NEW YORK – [autotag]Natan Schulte[/autotag] credits a specific strategy that helped him get the job done.

Schulte (20-3-1 MMA, 9-0-1 PFL) engaged in easily the best fight of the night, when he outlasted [autotag]Loik Radzhabov[/autotag] (13-2-1 MMA, 2-2-1 PFL) in a five-round battle at the 2019 PFL Championship on Tuesday at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York to win the lightweight title and $1 million.

One pivotal strategy was his leg kicks, that Schulte says, were a big part of his game plan to open things up for him offensively.

“That was a big part of the strategy,” Schulte said through a translator at the post-fight news conference. “My striking coach, Katel Kubis, and Luciano Macarrao put this game plan to get his mobility compromised, and since he changes stance all the time, and I do too. So I started kicking both legs and he was not comfortable in either one of them, so that opened a lot for my striking as well.”

It was the second year in a row that Schulte won the lightweight playoffs, and when asked if he’d entertain a superfight with fellow two-time tournament winner, featherweight Lance Palmer, Schulte didn’t seem too keen. He admitted he has a hard time making the 155-pound limit.

“There’s two different weight divisions. I kind of suffer a little bit to make lightweight,” Schulte said. “I don’t believe that he’s going to want to go to lightweight, and we both stay in the division, it’s a natural course.”

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PFL champ Ray Cooper III wants to fight Rory MacDonald in 2020 to get a win back for B.J. Penn

Ray Cooper III wants to face new PFL signee Rory MacDonald in 2020 to get one back for fellow Hawaiian B.J. Penn.

NEW YORK – Newly crowned PFL champion [autotag]Ray Cooper III[/autotag] has his eyes on the newest addition to promotion’s roster.

[autotag]Rory MacDonald[/autotag] signed with the PFL two weeks ago. When asked at Tuesday’s post-fight news conference about MacDonald, Cooper (20-7-1 MMA, 7-2-1 PFL) said he’d like to fight him to get one back for fellow Hawaiian [autotag]B.J. Penn[/autotag].

MacDonald (21-6-1) beat Penn by unanimous decision in their 2012 meeting at UFC on FOX 5.

“He’s a veteran in the sport. He’s got a win over BJ Penn, one of my boys, and I’d like to get him back on that,” Cooper said. “If I fight him first, I’ll fight him first. I’ll fight him whenever. I’m ready for him.”

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Cooper came up short in the 2018 PFL playoffs, but returned this year and realized his dream when he took out David Michaud with a brutal left hook to the body in the second round Tuesday night at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York to win the welterweight playoffs and $1 million.

After a successful first round, Cooper wasn’t able to get the fight to the ground and ate a few hard shots on the feet from Michaud, which wobbled him. But Cooper eventually was able to take Michaud down, and as Michaud was making his way back up, Cooper went back to the body to deliver the fight-ending blow.

Cooper said going to the body wasn’t necessarily his plan of attack, despite knowing that Michaud has struggled with a rib injury in the past.

“I just went in to try to take him out, hit him as hard as I can,” Cooper said. “It’s a fight. You can get caught in all places, and it’s going to hurt, and I just tried to blast him as hard as I can.”

Cooper said he was happy to turn things around this year, but already is focused on next season.

“I came close last year. It feels good, but I’m looking to win multiple titles in multiple years, so this is just a first step. Next year is going to be even harder, so I’ve just got to keep training hard and wait for what the future (holds).”

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Despite not getting a finish, two-time PFL champ Lance Palmer happy with overall performance

Two-time PFL featherweight winner Lance Palmer is happy with his overall performance, despite not getting a finish over Alex Gilpin.

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NEW YORK – The only way [autotag]Lance Palmer[/autotag] could outdo his overall dominant past performances over Alex Gilpin was to take him out.

Palmer (22-3 MMA, 11-0 PFL) won the featherweight tournament and $1 million for the second straight year by defeating Gilpin (14-4 MMA, 2-3 PFL) for the third time in a row at the 2019 PFL Championship on Tuesday at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Palmer’s original opponent, Daniel Pineda, failed a drug test, which forced him out of the final. He subsequently was replaced by Gilpin.

Palmer beat Gilpin by unanimous decision all three times they fought, and while he admitted he would have liked to score a finish this time around, he was happy with his performance.

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“I really just wanted to get a finish in this fight, and it didn’t accumulate the way I wanted to,” Palmer said. “So the way any fight can go, you just have to adapt while you’re in there. I felt that my striking was cleaner and better than his, but at the same time, I wanted to show that I can out-grapple him, since he had two finishes over guys who were high-level guys during the season. I didn’t get the finish like I wanted to, but I still felt that it was a good performance overall.”

Having mirrored his performance in 2018 by going undefeated once again in the regular season and playoffs, Palmer said the only real difference was what he expected out of himself.

“I think the pressure was different this time on myself,” Palmer said. “I think I put a lot more pressure on myself to get the job done. Especially – it’s hard fighting the same guy three times in six or seven months or whatever it is, so that was all different things that added into it. But winning is always going to be important to me, so just getting it done and getting another belt is – it was cool. So, not much else to say.”

Coming from a wrestling background, Palmer is accustomed to activity in a tournament-style format. He said that is a model that helped him find success in the PFL.

“It’s definitely something that not everybody can do, just going through five fights in a seven-month period of time,” Palmer said. “But I feel like it’s something that I was bred to do, coming from a wrestling background and being able to grind and have seven and eight wrestling matches in one day, and go through 150 matches in a year growing up – like, that stuff, it’s all prepared me for this.”

Palmer relied on his strong grappling once again and was able to fend off a few submission attempts from Gilpin. It was more of the same from their previous two meetings in May and October, though.

“I didn’t feel like he brought anything different, which I was kind of surprised because from the first to the second fight, he kind of tried to bring a couple of different tricks and things,” Palmer said. “But he pretty much stayed with his same game plan from the first fight. I didn’t really see any improvement or changes. But also, in that short 10-week period from the semifinals to (Tuesday), there’s only so much you can do to change when you’re fighting the same guy. So I’ve been training for Alex since April, so I was pretty much prepared for anything that he could have brought to me.”

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Kayla Harrison celebrates her PFL title, which she calls ‘her fourth kid’

Kayla Harrison added her PFL belt to a gold collection which includes two Olympic medals and a world judo championship.

NEW YORK — [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] has won so many gold trophies over the course of her career, she’s starting to view them like her children.

Harrison’s unanimous-decision victory over the always-tough Larissa Pacheco in the main event of the 2019 PFL Championship on Tuesday night at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden not only added $1M to her bank account, but also added to a list of remarkable accomplishments, which include a pair of Olympic judo gold medals and a judo world championship.

“Well, I won two Olympic gold medals so those are my first two kids,” Harrison told MMA Junkie after he fight. “I have a championship gold medal, so that’s maybe my third baby, so this is maybe my fourth kid.”

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Harrison, who has competed seven times in less than two years and won all seven fights, is her own toughest critic. But at the end of the day, she wasn’t about to complain about her performance after taking home a big check and a new belt.

“It’s the end of the year, I learned a lot about myself in this fight, I learned a lot about fighting in this fight, and I also got a beautiful payday and live a truly blessed life,” Harrison said. “More important than anything is I got to touch gold again and got to taste gold and become a world champion again. It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t necessarily, pretty but life is not always pretty and I’m happy with the result.”

Harrison knows that some think she doesn’t appreciate what she’s accomplished to date, but she also knows that her approach has led to great success on a worldwide stage.

“I’m always going to be my toughest critic, you know?” Harrison said. “I demand and expect nothing but the best from myself and that’s why I’ve climbed the mountain so many times. I don’t apologize for it. I think a lot of people misinterpret it for being a poor sport. Absolutely not. Hat’s off to Larissa she’s an amazing fighter but it’s just that I expect so much more for myself but for tonight, for right now, I’m going to try to be in the moment and enjoy it, I can’t wait to go back to the gym.”

At this point of the night, everything was a blur for Harrison after logging 25 minutes for the first time in her career. But while she hasn’t mentally broken down how the fight went just yet, she’ll leave New York knowing the win over Pacheco was an important moment in her MMA development. 

“I’m so in the moment that I don’t think I remember half the stuff that was going on in there, Harrison said. “But overall it was good, but I know for sure there’s a bunch of stuff I can get better at.  I feel like this time around I was a lot more composed, I took my time, I picked my shots better, every single time I am getting in that cage I am getting invaluable experience. Going five rounds, you don’t do any more than five, so it was a good test for me and it was important to use as a stepping stone to get even better.” 

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2019 PFL Championship results: Kayla Harrison claims first PFL women’s $1 million title

The PFL’ crowned six $1M champions Tuesday night, including the first women’s titleholder and two repeat champs.

NEW YORK — [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] has still yet to taste defeat.

The two-time Olympic judo gold medalist defeated [autotag]Larissa Pacheco[/autotag] in the rematch to remain undefeated in her MMA career and win the 2019 PFL women’s lightweight championship and the $1 million prize that went with winning the season tournament.

Harrison’s performance against Pacheco (13-4 MMA, 2-2 PFL) was dominant. The former judoka player was able to take down and control the Brazilian there in all five rounds. Harrison won easily on the scorecard, outpointing Pacheco 50-43, 50-45, 50-45.

Despite looking dominant, Harrison (7-0 MMA, 7-0 PFL) did face some adversity in the fight.

Pacheco threatened with a knee to the head in the third round that seemed to connect clean on Harrison. She also came alive in the fifth, as she walked down Harrison for a good portion of the round while landing shots. Towards the end of the firth and final round Pacheco also threaten with standing ten-finger choke but Harrison eventually turned it into a takedown to finish the fight on top.

Harrison began her professional MMA career in mid-2018. Since she’s compiled seven wins, five via.

Ray Cooper III earns redemption, finishes David Michaud for welterweight crown

[autotag]Ray Cooper III[/autotag] once again got to a PFL championship final, but this time he didn’t leave home the loser.

The Hawaiian fighter stopped [autotag]David Michaud[/autotag] in the co-main event by using a nasty left hook to the body that shut down Michaud. The official stoppage came at 2:56 of round two.

Cooper (20-7-1 MMA, 7-2-1 PFL) came close to having a flawless performance. He controlled Michaud (18-6 MMA, 3-2 PFL) against cage early in the first, dropped him with a hook to the body and maintained top control for the rest of the round.

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In the second round, Cooper failed to get the fight to the ground so he engaged on the feet with Michaud, which got dicey for a bit. A couple minutes in, Michaud connected with some hard knees to the head and some solid hooks that appeared to hurt Cooper. Cooper responded with a takedown and while Michaud was working his way back to his feet, Cooper sat him down with a nasty shot to the liver followed up by punches.

Copper lost in the final of the 2018 PFL season. The win over Michaud marks his first PFL championship win.

Ali Isaev outwrestles Jared Rosholt, finishes for heavyweight crown

[autotag]Ali Isaev [/autotag]defeated [autotag]Jared Rosholt[/autotag] at his own game.

The Russian fighter outwrestled Rosholt (20-8 MMA, 6-4 PFL) over the course of four rounds to eventually get the finish and win the 2019 PFL heavyweight championship.

Rosholt landed good strikes throughout the fight and even threatened with a guillotine at the end of round one. However, Isaev’s pressure and takedowns proved to be the superior factor throughout the fight.

After three rounds of heavy grappling, Isaev (9-0 MMA, 5-0 PFL) was able to get Rosholt to the ground in round four and wear down the American. With less than a minute remaining, Isaev turned up the ground-and-pound and forced Rosholt to shell up. With Rosholt offering no answer to the strikes, the referee had no option but to stop the fight at the 4:09 mark.

Isaev is 36 years old and remains undefeated in his MMA career.

Natan Schulte bests Loik Radzhabov in thrilling throwdown

 

If there were “Fight of the Night” bonuses in PFL, [autotag]Natan Schulte[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Loik Radzhabov[/autotag] would’ve easily earned it.

Both Schulte (20-3-1 MMA, 9-0-1 PFL) and Radzhabov (13-2-1 MMA, 2-2-1 PFL) engaged in a non-stop action battle for 25 minutes. In the end, Schulte left with his hand raised, a $1 million in his pocket, and the 2019 PFL lightweight title. Schulte beat Radzhabov 49-44, 49-46, 48-47 on the scorecards.

Schulte started hot in the fight, wobbling and taking down Radzhabov to have the biggest impact of round one. Second round things took a turn. Radzhabov landed plenty of clean shots and at time seems to hurt Schulte.

From that point on, Rounds 3-5 were quite competitive. Both fighters had good moments on the feet and ground, but ultimately Schulte had the best highlights and control, mounting Radzhabov in rounds four and five. It was a grueling bout that had both fighters spent in the end.

Schulte remains unbeaten PFL, winning both the 2018 and 2019 lightweight championships.

Lance Palmer claims second straight featherweight title

[autotag]Lance Palmer[/autotag] has [autotag]Alex Gilpin[/autotag]’s number.

The 2018 PFL featherweight champion defeated Gilpin (14-4 MMA, 2-3 PFL) for a third time to win the 2019 PFL featherweight belt and his second $1 million dollar prize in the company. Palmer (22-3 MMA, 11-0 PFL) was favored 50-43, 50-44, 50-44 on the judge’s scorecards.

Palmer’s strong wrestling and dominant top control was the protagonist of the fight. Through out the entire five rounds of the 145-pound contest, Palmer took down Gilpin and controlled top position.

Palmer was able to avoid referee stand-ups with his constant advancement in position and ground-and-pound. Gilpin had some threatening moment in rounds one and two with some choked that seemed to catch Palmer’s attention. But despite the admirable efforts, Gilpin was out-grappled the entire fight.

Palmer had beaten Gilpin twice prior to the final, first in May and then again in October.

[autotag]Emiliano Sordi[/autotag] stops [autotag]Jordan Johnson[/autotag] to win light heavyweight championship

Emiliano Sordi’s quick stoppage claims light heavyweight gold

Argentina now has a champion in a major North American promotion.

[autotag]Emiliano Sordi[/autotag] used heavy ground-and-pound to stop [autotag]Jordan Johnson[/autotag] and earn himself $1 million plus the 2019 PFL light heavyweight title.

Sordi (22-8 MMA, 6-1 PFL) and Johnson (12-2-1 MMA, 2-2-1 PFL) traded heavy shots early, but it was Sordi landed the better shots. About halfway through the round, Sordi dropped Johnson with a big straight right hand. Johnson tried to takedown Sordi with a low single once on the ground, but the Argentinian followed up with ground-and-pound to force the referee to waive off the fight.

The official stoppage came at 2:01 mark of the first round.

[autotag]Brendan Loughnane [/autotag] cruises to a decision, outpoints [autotag]David Alex Valente [/autotag]

Brendan Loughnane decisions David Valente

[autotag]Brendan Loughnane [/autotag] remains unbeaten inside the PFL cage.

The Englishman had a seamless decision win over Brazil’s [autotag]David Valente[/autotag] to kick off the PFL championship finals. Loughnane (19-3 MMA, 2-0 PFL) controlled most of the fight using his range and leg kicks.

In the first round, Loughnane took control of the center of the cage and picked apart Valente (11-5 MMA, 0-1 PFL) with leg kicks. Round two was a similar story, as Loughnane used distance and avoided many of the strikes Valente threw. Valente was bit trigger shy and was switching stances to alleviate the leg kicks being absorbed.

Third round Loughnane took down Valente early. Valente got up not long after the takedown. With a sense of urgency, Valente walked down Loughnane but didn’t land anything flush. Loughnane would score another takedown where he landed good ground-and-pound until the final bell rang.

Loughnane defeated Valente 30-27 on all three judge’s scorecards.

The 2019 PFL championships went down on Dec. 31 from the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Graden in New York. The entire main card, which hosted six championship bouts, aired live on ESPN 2. Harrison vs. Pacheco headlined the event.

Full PFL 2019 championship results:

Full 2019 PFL Championship results:

Ray Cooper III makes million-dollar comeback at PFL Championship

Seemingly moments away from a second straight disappointing finals finish. Ray Cooper III rallied for a spectacular win and a $1M check.

NEW YORK — For a minute there, [autotag]Ray Cooper III[/autotag] looked like he was in for another disappointing result at the PFL Championship.

The Hawaiian welterweight lost in the championship round to Magomed Magomedkeriov last New Year’s Eve, but worked his way back through the 2019 season to earn another crack at $1 million, giving him the distinction of becoming the first PFL runner-up to get a second crack at the big prize.

The Big Apple loves stories of those who are knocked down and get right back up to try it again, and Cooper rose to the the moment under the bight lights of the biggest city Tuesday night at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.

In a short-but-wild fight, Cooper was nearly finished by David Michaud. But when it appeared he was set for another heartbreak and long, regretful flight back to Hawaii, Cooper managed to regain his wits and rally for a thrilling TKO victory at the 2:56 mark of the opening round, thus ensuring he’ll return to the islands with an oversized check for $1 million (yes, “actually” guy about to go to the comment section, we know taxes mean he’s not really going to be a millionaire. Settle down).

After the fight, the newly enriched Cooper said Michaud brought exactly what he thought his opponent would bring to the table.

“We did what we said we were going to do, lay it all on the line and try to knock each other out,” Cooper said. “That’s the name of the game, much respect to David.”

You can check out the nasty body shots that did the trick in the video linked below (via Twitter):

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