PFL featherweight and men’s lightweight playoffs: Live recap and reactions
After a wild first night of action that saw Kayla Harrison, Larissa Pacheco, Ray Cooper III and David Michaud clinch their spots in the $1 million finals of their respective divisions, Thursday marked the second stanza of the PFL playoffs.
Sixteen fighters enter the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas in the featherweight and men’s lightweight divisions with the hope of doing the same. That group includes defending champions Natan Schulte and Lance Palmer, who each hope to make it a repeat performance in 2019.
Palmer and Schulte are the favorites entering Thursday night, as the No. 1 seeds, but like everyone else hoping to make the finals, they have to win twice in one night to seal the deal. Each is halfway home, after victories in the quarterfinals.
The broadcast is live on ESPN+, and Brett Okamoto is live in Las Vegas to break down the night’s action, as it happens.
Lightweight quarterfinal: No. 4 Akhmet Aliev vs. No. 5 Rashid Magomedov
Fight in progress…
Featherweight semifinal: No. 1 Lance Palmer def. No. 4 Alex Gilpin by unanimous decision
Ohio’s Lance Palmer (20-3) punched his ticket — literally — to a second consecutive PFL featherweight finals appearance with a decision win over Alex Gilpin (14-3) in the semis.
The former collegiate wrestler scored a handful of takedowns against Gilpin, but it was his aptitude with his hands early on in the fight that carried him to the 145-pound finals. Palmer repeatedly found a home for his counter left hand on the feet — although he did rely on his grappling to put things away in the third round.
All three judges scored it a clean 30-27 sweep for Palmer, who has now won 10 in a row, including a run to the PFL’s 2018 featherweight championship.
“It’s awesome to be back in the finals again, and to face a great opponent in Alex Gilpin,” Palmer said. “I fought him twice this season, and I felt he was one of the toughest guys in this division. Nothing but respect for him.”
Gilpin, of Madison, Wisconsin, staged something of a comeback in the final round, but it ultimately came up short. He buzzed Palmer with some strikes on the feet, including a big knee, and looked for a guillotine as Palmer was forced to shoot for a takedown. He ended up taking Palmer down with the choke attempt, but would eventually cede top position.
Palmer, who trains with New Jersey striking coach Mark Henry, was the 145-pound World Series of Fighting champion, prior to the league rebranding itself as PFL.
Lightweight quarterfinal: No. 1 Natan Schulte def. No. 8 Ramsey Nijem by first-round submission (rear naked choke)
No. 8-seeded Ramsey Nijem clearly had a plan for how he would take out No. 1 seed and 2018 champion Natan Schulte. It almost worked, too.
Nijem came out on fire, knocking Schulte down with an overhand right in the opening moments and then straight into a deep guillotine attempt. Schulte managed to escape, though, and quickly made up for the horrific start. He took Nijem’s back in a scramble and put Nijem to sleep with a rear naked choke. The entire thing took 52 seconds.
Schulte improved his unbeaten mark in the PFL to 7-0-1. The Brazilian lightweight defeated Bao Yincang and Jesse Ronson en route to the semifinals.
Featherweight quarterfinal: No. 6 Jeremy Kennedy def. No. 3 Luis Rafael Laurentino by second-round TKO (punches)
Jeremy Kennedy went to Las Vegas with the goal of advancing to the PFL finals, for sure. But he was also there, in large part, to exact revenge on Luis Rafael Laurentino.
Kennedy defeated Laurentino via TKO at 1:24 of the second round to move on to the PFL featherweight semifinals. It was a rematch of a 2019 regular-season bout, which Kennedy lost in a 21-second knockout. Kennedy obviously looked much sharper in the second meeting, as he took Laurentino down at will and ultimately finished the fight with ground and pound in the second.
Kennedy, a veteran of the UFC, made the playoffs by out-pointing Steven Siler in his other regular-season fight in July.
Featherweight quarterfinal: No. 7 Daniel Pineda def. No. 2 Movlid Khaybulaev by first-round knockout (punches)
Daniel Pineda’s first fight in the PFL cage was a memorable one, as he knocked out No. 2-seeded Movlid Khaybulaev in just 29 seconds to advance to the featherweight semifinals. Pineda was supposed to fight in PFL’s regular season in July, but his opponent missed weight — creating the odd scenario of his first PFL fight taking place in the playoffs.
The finish came courtesy of a flurry against the fence. Pineda knocked Khaybulaev off balance with an inside leg kick, and then dropped him with a left hand. As Khaybulaev tried to protect himself against the fence, Pineda followed with a string of punches to the head. Khaybulaev appeared to be halfway reaching for a takedown after absorbing that damage, but the fight was called by referee Yves Lavigne.
Pineda was a 5-to-1 betting underdog going into the bout. The 34-year-old has fought professionally since 2007, including stretches in the UFC and Bellator MMA.
Featherweight quarterfinal: No. 4. Alex Gilpin def. No. 5 Andre Harrison by second-round submission (front choke)
After flirting with a guillotine choke midway through the first round, Alex Gilpin scored a thrilling victory against Andre Harrison with a ninja front choke in the second round of their featherweight quarterfinal. The finish came at the 1:49 mark. Harrison refused to tap and ended up going unconscious.
Harrison’s wrestle-heavy style was relatively effective against Gilpin, but ultimately ran him into trouble. It marked the eighth submission win of Gilpin’s career. He suffered a regular-season loss to Lance Palmer, before submitting another strong grappler in Freddy Assuncao in July. The win set Gilpin up for a rematch against Palmer in the semifinals.
Featherweight quarterfinal: No. 1 Lance Palmer def. No. 9 Alexandre Almeida by unanimous decision
Lance Palmer nearly recorded what would have been just the second knockout win of his career in the second round, as he dropped Alexandre Almeida with an overhand left in the center of the cage. Almeida appeared to briefly go limp from the shot, but managed to clamp onto Palmer off his back and survive the rest of the fight.
It was, nevertheless, a thoroughly dominant showing from Palmer. He easily advanced to the semifinal round via scores of 20-17, 20-18, 20-18. It also wrapped up a trilogy between Palmer and Almeida. Almeida handed Palmer his second pro loss back in December 2015, taking the World Series of Fighting featherweight title in the process. Palmer avenged that result and regained his belt seven months later, defeating Almeida by decision.
Still to come:
Lightweight quarterfinal: No. 2 Islam Mamedov vs. No. 7 Loik Radzhabov
Lightweight quarterfinal: No. 3 Chris Wade vs. No. 6 Nate Andrews
Featherweight semifinal: Winner of 2 vs. 7 / Winner of 3 vs. 6
Lightweight semifinal: Winner of 1 vs. 8 / Winner of 4 vs. 5
Lightweight semifinal: Winner of 2 vs. 7 / Winner of 3 vs. 6