Outside Source
Things got spicy in the PFL’s sophomore effort this season.
On Friday night at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, PFL 2 featured the first rounds of the PFL bantamweight and women’s flyweight tournaments, and a couple of tournament favorites have already been bumped from the competition.
In the main event, late-notice replacement Marcirley Alves pulled off a huge upset, winning a split decision over former Bellator title challenger Leandro Higo. Alves was actually the second replacement opponent for Higo — who was originally supposed to face Magomed Magomedov and then Josh Rettinghouse — and was supposed to fight in an alternate bout on the card before Rettinghouse was ruled ineligible on Thursday. Alves made the most of his opportunity, showcasing great takedown defense and quick, powerful striking that had Higo all out of sorts.
Alves will face prelim winner Jake Hadley in the next round of the tournament, and while Alves may have won the headliner, “White Kong” stole the show. The former Cage Warriors flyweight champion locked up a Scottish Twister in the third round of his fight with Mattheus Mattos. Hadley had a tough run in the UFC but seems to have righted the ship in his PFL debut, becoming just the second person to land the unique submission in PFL after the submission’s most well-known user, Stevie Ray.
In the co-main event, Liz Carmouche made quick work of Ilara Joanne to advance to the semifinals of the women’s flyweight tournament. Before the fight, Carmouche told media getting a body shot finish was on her MMA bucket list, and she did just that, flooring Joanne with a knee to the body and then punishing her with more shots to the body to earn the first-round stoppage.
Carmouche faces Elora Dana — who submitted Diana Avsaragova with a neck crank in the opening bout of the evening — in the next round.
Also on the main card, Mando Gutierrez and Justin Wetzell won their opening matches against Francesco Nuzzi and Kasum Kasumov, respectively. Gutierrez submitted Nuzzi with a rear-naked choke in the first round, while Wetzell controlled Kasumov for a unanimous decision win. Gutierrez and Wetzell will fight each other in the semifinals in June.
In the featured prelim fight of the evening, former Bellator women’s flyweight champion Juliana Velasquez was upset by Ekaterina Shakalova in dominant fashion, tapping to a rear-naked choke just over two minutes into the bout.
Shakalova faces Jena Bishop — who won a scrappy decision over Kana Watanabe earlier in the evening — in the second round of the women’s flyweight tournament.
Check out the full PFL 2 results below.
Marcirley Alves def. Leandro Higo via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Liz Carmouche def. Ilara Joanne via TKO (knee and punches to the body) — Round 1, 1:25
Mando Gutierrez def. Francesco Nuzzi via submission (rear-naked choke) — Round 1, 4:13
Justin Wetzell def. Kasum Kasumov via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Ekaterina Shakalova def. Julianna Velasquez via sub (rear-naked choke) — Round 1, 2:05
Jake Hadley def. Matheus Mattos via submission (Scottish twister) — Round 3, 2:16
Jena Bishop def. Kana Watanabe via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Elora Dana def. Diana Avsaragova via submission (neck crank) — Round 1, 4:48
This article first appeared at MMA Fighting – All Posts
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