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PFL 2019, Playoffs 1 live results

PFL 2019, Playoffs 1 takes place Friday in Las Vegas, and you can join us for live results of all of the action.

The event marks the start of the playoffs for PFL’s 2019 season, the second in the upstart league’s history, and takes place at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

The card sees action from the PFL’s eight-man welterweight field, as well as the four women involved in the women’s lightweight playoffs.

The men’s competitors will look to fight twice in a single night and earn their way to the PFL 2019 Championship, which takes place Dec. 31, where playoff winners will take home $1 million prizes.

Meanwhile, the female competitors have already been narrowed to four and will need to compete just once on Friday to earn their finals ticket.

Enjoy the fights, everyone.

* * * *

In the night’s final preliminary bout, No. 1 seed Franca punched his ticket to the welterweight semifinals with a gutsy win over No. 8 seed Andre Fialho (10-3), surviving some late trouble to make it out with majority decision win.

After a rather lengthy feeling out process, Franca changed levels and drove forward for the takedown. Fialho sprawled well initially, landing a few big hammerfists, as well. However, Franca tucked his head and was able to pull his opponent to the canvas. However, once on top, he wasn’t able to stay busy enough to keep it there, and the fight was brought back to the feet.

On the restart, Fialho was aggressive with his punches. However, it was France who landed the bigger shots before once again driving forward and taking the action to the floor, nearly sneaking to the back before the end of the round.

Fialho came out swinging in the second, and a huge right hand clearly dazed Franca, who retreated to recover and was eventually able to shoot forward and take his opponent to the floor. It was a massive swing in momentum, and Franca made sure he was busy this time around, punching at every clear opportunity and maintaining top control until the final minute.

Back on the feet, Fialho tried to summon a little magic, but his punches had lost some zip, and Franca walked through them to earn another takedown, sealing the win, which he took home with scores of 20-18, 20-18 and 19-19.

In the night’s first welterweight quarterfinal, No. 6 seed Cooper III appeared to have done enough for a clear decision win over No. 3 seed Sadibou Sy (8-6-1) but was forced to wait for a majority draw read to find out he would advance to the semifinals.

Cooper III wasted little time trying to negate the massive reach advantage, shooting on the legs almost immediately. Sy battled to stay upright, sprawling against the cage and looking to dig underhooks, but Cooper III was relentless with his effort. Eventually, Sy was able to scramble free, but Cooper III clipped him with a flurry of punches that sent the Swede crashing to the floor. Cooper III followed and looked for the finish, but Sy was able to slow things down and stay alive while working from his back.

Cooper III again pushed forward quickly to start the second, looking to get the fight to the floor. Sy again defended well against the cage, but he struggled to pull free. A Sy knee to the groin earned him a restart, albeit at Cooper III’s expense. However, once the action resumed, Cooper III was able to sprint forward on a takedown and drive the action to the canvas, where it remained until the end of the frame.

In the end, judges declared the fight a majority draw with Cooper III taking once card 20-18 but the other two scoring it 19-19. However, all three judges awarded Cooper III the tiebreaker, and he was awarded the win.

Aleksakhin, Loughnane win in non-tourney fights

In the second of two “new fighter showcase” contests, Russia’s Nikolay Aleksakhin (24-5) was able to take out Canada’s Jesse Ronson (20-10) in the first round.

Ronson controlled the center of the cage in the early going and looked to pick his foe apart with punches to the head and body. However, Aleksakhin was able to weather the early attacks before countering with strikes of his own, and it was clear they packed a bit more power.

Ronson tried to shift his focus to wrestling, but Aleksakhin was able to stuff the attempts and land a big knee inside before unleashing a vicious barrage of punches, dropping him to the canvas and finishing the fight at the mark of the opening round.

In the night’s first contest, Brendan Loughnane (18-3) debuted with a clearcut decision win over an outgunned Matt Wagy (13-7). The featherweight prospect used a non-stop barrage of kicks to the legs and body to chop down his opponent over the course of three rounds.

To his credit, Wage did his best to stand in the pocket and fire heavy punches in reply, but Loughnane was able to get the best of the exchanges and walk away with a decision win, 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27.

MAIN CARD (ESPN2, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Glaico Franca vs. TBA – welterweight semifinal
  • TBA vs. Ray Cooper III – welterweight semifinal
  • Kayla Harrison vs. Bobbi Jo Dalziel – women’s lightweight semifinal
  • Sarah Kaufman vs. Larissa Pachecom – women’s lightweight semifinal
  • John Howard vs. David Michaud – welterweight quarterfinal
  • Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Chris Curtis – welterweight quarterfinal

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)

  • Glaico Franca def. Andre Fialho via majority decision (20-18, 20-18, 19-19) – welterweight quarterfinal
  • Ray Cooper III def. Sadibou Sy via judges’ award (20-18, 19-19, 19-19) – welterweight quarterfinal
  • Nikolay Aleksakhin def. Jesse Ronson via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:37
  • Brendan Loughnane def. Matt Wagy via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)

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