Outside Source
Taking over for Paul Hughes in the PFL Belfast main attraction, Kelly (9-1, 2-1 PFL) put his flawless record on the line in a dangerous lightweight outing against Jay-Jay Wilson (12-2, 2-1 PFL). Kelly may not have closed as the betting favorite, as lines moved quite closely coming into fight night, but he was the favored man at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Fans were on the side of the “Moville Mauler” from the get-go, even with Wilson attempting to win the crowd over with his walkout of Neil Diamond’s singalong “Sweet Caroline.” All that proved for naught when Wilson smashed Kelly in the ribs with his shin and knocked Kelly into unconscious with his left hand.
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The main event for Professional Fighters League’s second trip to Northern Ireland did not end quite as successfully for local audiences as their first, when the aforementioned Hughes smashed his foe in 42 seconds. Wilson proudly served as the spoiler by coming out of his corner guns blazing, unafraid of the lossless foe standing across the cage from him. “The Maori Kid” established his range and speed early, putting combinations behind his jabs as he flowed into his preferred distance.
After tripling up on his jab, Wilson swayed the counters and delivered a clean body kick that ripped into Kelly’s abdomen. A split-second later, Wilson fired off a perfect left hook that put the Irishman down on the mat. The Kiwi jackhammered down a pair of sleep-inducing hammerfists that shut Kelly’s lights completely while also stripping away his flawless record. Referee “Big” John McCarthy sprung into action to separate the two a cool 37 seconds into the match.
Donned with a cape of feathers, Wilson called his shot directly: Alfie Davis in June at the rumored PFL San Diego event.
While betting odds were on the wider side in favor of the former Cage Warriors champ, Rhys McKee (15-7-1, 1-0 PFL) had his hands more than full with fellow PFL newcomer Alex Lohore (26-12, 0-1 PFL). The action appeared tied going into the third round, only for McKee to show he had more left in the tank as he engaged his grappling to shut down Lohore in the later stages of the bout.
The two men collided at 176 pounds due to the late nature of it coming together, and that weighed in the advantage of the Irishman, who ended up picking up a workmanlike decision. It took a big right hand behind the ear from “Skeletor” to put Lohore down, where McKee proceeded to wrap up and threaten Lohore with chokes and thwart off scrambles until time expired.
McKee, who jumped on top of the cage after the final bell to celebrate his expected win, secured the first decision victory of his career thanks to a trio of 30-27 scores on his side.
By the skin of his teeth, Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov (26-8-1, 5-1 PFL) held on to win the narrow decision over hard-charging PFL debutant Tyson Pedro (10-6, 1-0 PFL). The light heavyweight duel appeared fairly straightforward as Yagshimuradov controlled the cage for the first 10 minutes thanks to his diverse striking arsenal. Whether threatening with a spinning strike of some variety, a standing hook kick or any number of unorthodox attacks for a 205er, the Turkmen kept Pedro guessing for two rounds.
It was not until Round 3 when Pedro sprung to life, in hopes of keeping his 100% finish rate intact as he inflicted damage to and nearly stopped the 2024 light heavyweight tourney victor a few times. Yagshimuradov survived the onslaught—and Pedro may have prematurely emptied his gas tank—and put the Aussie on his back to inflict punishment with ground-and-pound as time expired.
When the dust settled, Yagshimuradov convinced all three judges that his work in the first two rounds proved insurmountable, awarding him the unanimous decision nod.
Eoin Sheridan remains unbeaten atop action-packed prelim slate
A competitive welterweight tilt capped off the violent prelims, where the sole American on the billing squared off against a local undefeated favorite. Chris Mixan (7-3, 3-1 PFL), repping both his home state of Florida as well as Ukraine, battled 6-foot-5 gangly striker Eoin Sheridan (5-0, 3-0 PFL) for three tough rounds. Each man had something to celebrate at fight’s end, with Mixan’s pocket boxing and late ground control stacked up against Sheridan’s powerful low kicks.
The first two rounds proved to be quite close, but it was Sheridan who did enough to earn the nod on all three judges’ tallies of 29-28. Sheridan blunted the shorter man with his debilitating leg kicks, keeping it close in the first and knocking Mixan to his seat a few times in the second round. While Mixan controlled much of the final frame by taking the tall man down and working him over, it was not enough to get his hand raised.
Ireland’s Sheridan notched his fifth win as a professional, calling for another match against ranked opposition in his next time out.
In earlier preliminary action, Caolan Loughran (11-3, 1-1 PFL) easily handled Alan Philpott (21-18, 1 NC; 0-2 PFL) with a neck crank 71 seconds into their bout, recording his first PFL victory in a featherweight pairing; Omran Chaaban (10-1, 1-0 PFL) dispatched fellow 170er Chequina Noso Pedro (10-5, 1-2 PFL) with a flush knee to the jaw and finished the job with his fists to procure the TKO stoppage at 4:16 of Round 2; Liverpool’s Dean Garnett (15-4-1, 3-2 PFL) flatlined a then-undefeated Ciaran Clarke (10-1, 0-1 PFL) with a thunderous spinning back elbow and follow-up punches, rendering the Irish bantamweight unconscious 1:52 into the opening period; Pedro Carvalho (15-10, 1-2 PFL) put himself on his first win streak since 2019 by taking everything Sergio Cossio (19-12-1, 1-3 PFL) threw at him and giving it back in spades in their 165 catchweight bout, with “The Game” winning two of three rounds on all three cards to pick up the unanimous verdict; welterweight newcomer David Martinez (17-6, 1-0 PFL) fought through adversity to tap Giannis Bachar (9-4, 0-2 PFL) 53 seconds into the second stanza with a rear-naked choke; courtesy of a pair of knockdowns, Sean Gauci (11-1, 1-0 PFL) outdueled a frenetic Liam Gittins (13-6, 1 NC; 0-2 PFL) in a high-intensity, high-volume brawl to pick up two 30-27 scores and one of 29-28 all in his favor; Eoghan Masoliver (2-0, 1-0 PFL) snatched up a standing rear-naked choke just 1:55 into the opening frame to hand fellow bantamweight neophyte Shane Mullen (1-1, 0-1 PFL) his first pro defeat; 2024 PFL flyweight tourney entrant Chelsea Hackett (5-3-1, 2-2 PFL) picked up her first win in years by dropping and ultimately outpointing Andrea Vazquez (8-3, 0-1 PFL) with three matching scores of 30-27 in the event opener.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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