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The last four finalists of the PFL playoffs were set Saturday night, but one fighter among them stole the spotlight.
Ray Cooper III powered by TKO wins over Jake Shields and Handesson Ferreira in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, at PFL 10 from St. Elizabeth's East Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington D.C.
Magomed Magomedkerimov, who won by TKO over Bojan Velickovic to seal his spot after taking a unanimous decision from Pavlo Kusch in the quarterfinals.
The PFL's middleweight finals were also set, with Louis Taylor advancing following a controversial semifinals victory over John Howard; Abusupiyan Magomedov punched his ticket with a unanimous-decision sound win over Sadibou Sy.
The PFL debuted earlier this year with a couple of years of competition. Fighters in each of six weight classes then made their way into eight-man tournament fields, and the winner of each division will get $ 1 million guaranteed. The final are set for PFL 11, which takes place Dec. 31 at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York and airs on NBCSN.
Cooper (17-4), 25, will be in the head of the game with TKO wins. Cooper's victory over Shields (33-11) on Saturday night was a rematch of their PFL 3 encounter, which ended the same way. Ferreira (13-2-1), who last year handed Cooper unanimously decided on the regional scene.
Afterward, Cooper downplayed his dominant performance.
"That's just another fight," Cooper said. "Getting closer to the finals, that's all my goal was."
At 39, Taylor (17-4) is the oldest of the 12 PFL finalists, and he should feel fortunate to have advanced. Taylor soundly won his quarterfinal matchup with Rex Harris (11-5) by unanimous decision. Taylor seemed to have a similar result, but it had gone south.
After dropping Howard (27-14) and controlling the first round, Round 2 was a different story for Taylor. He was wobbled at a point during a takedown attempt to manage his composure. Fatigue was starting to set in for both men, but Taylor scored a takedown and proceeded to attack Howard with ground-and-pound. Everything was going great after the last 10 seconds, when Taylor landed an illegal knee to a downed opponent.
The referee stepped in to stop the action. Medical staff came in to examine Howard, and it was determined that he could not continue, leaving the issue hanging in the balance. Taylor's wife was seen in tears wondering if her husband had just lost $ 1 million.
After roughly 15-20 minutes of suspense, Taylor's illegal knee has been declared unintentional. The result went to the scorecards on the basis of the Round 1 only, which all the three judges scored for Taylor, allowing him to advance.
Ray Cooper III vs. Jake Shields
Sadibou Sy vs. Bruno Santos
Handesson Ferreira vs. Rick Story
Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Pavlo Kusch
Bojan Velickovic suffered a tough loss to Abukar Nurmagomedov in the welterweight quarterfinals. The fight ended in a draw, Nurmagomedov goal was declared the winner after the judges scored in his favor.
It was all for nothing, however, as Nurmagomedov is unable to continue on following his victory. As a result, Velickovic has been inserted back into the tournament and will meet Magomed Magomedkerimov in the semifinals later tonight.
PFL 10 results include:
MAIN CARD (NBCSN, 9 p.m. ET)
- Abusupiyan Magomedov def. Sadibou Sy via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – middleweight semifinal tip
- Ray Cooper III def. Handle Ferreira via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:28 – welterweight semifinal bout
- John Howard vs. Louis Taylor – Semifinal middleweight bout (Taylor advances by winning first round) declared a technical draw at illegal strike at 4:58 of Round 2
- Magomed Magomedkerimov def. Bojan Velickovic via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:13 – welterweight semifinal butt
- Abusupiyan Magomedov vs. Gasan Umalatov – middleweight quarterfinal end (Magomedov advanced on tie-breaker by winning first round) declared a majority draw (20-18, 19-19, 19-19)
- Ray Cooper III def. Jake Shields via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:10 – welterweight quarterfinal bout
- Bruno Santos vs. Sadibou Sy – middleweight quarterfinal end (SY advanced on tie-breaker by winning first round) declared a majority draw (20-18, 19-19, 19-19)
- Handesson Ferreira def. Rick Story via TKO (verbal submission) – Round 2, 1:15 – welterweight quarterfinal bout
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 7:15 pm ET)
- John Howard def. Eddie Gordon via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18) – middleweight quarterfinal bout
- Magomed Magomedkerimov def. Pavlo Kusch via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18) – welterweight quarterfinal bout
- Louis Taylor def. Rex Harris via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18) – middleweight quarterfinal bout
- Abukar Nurmagomedov vs. Bojan Velickovic – quarterfinal welterweight end (Nurmagomedov advanced on tie-breaker by winning first round) declared a draw (19-19, 19-19, 19-19)
For more on PFL 10, check out the MMA Events section of the site.
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