Professional Fighters League CEO John Martin saw several
fighters make a statement at
PFL Washington D.C.

The PFL put on a show at CareFirst Arena in the American capital,
where Thad Jean
(12-0) and Ernesto
Rodriguez (11-2) fought for the vacant welterweight title in
the main event. Rodriguez accepted the matchup on 48 hours’ notice
after Jean’s original opponent, Shamil
Musaev, pulled out due to weight cut issues.

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The PFL CEO believes Shamil Musaev deserves the next title
shot

Jean survived a knockdown scare in the second round and pounded out
an exhausted Rodriguez to earn a stoppage win in the third period.
Martin appreciates Rodriguez for stepping up to save the main
event, although the Cuban was originally supposed to fight Aaron
McKenzie on the same card. Martin also praised Jean for
accepting a sudden change of opponent and would like to see him
defend his title against Musaev next.

“Let’s start with Ernesto… 48 hours ago, he was preparing for a
different fight,” Martin said in an interview. “We approached him,
we gave him a huge opportunity and right on the spot he recognized
it and he wanted to do it. And he fought a pretty courageous fight.
He wasn’t training to fight someone who is 6-foot-2 and he also
wasn’t training to fight five rounds. Which is a different level of
preparation. You could also say the same about Thad Jean.
Obviously, he came out on top and fought a great fight. But he was
training for Shamil, who is a completely different fighter… I would
like to see him do that fight with Shamil.”

Martin notes that the event was a great night for African talent as
Nkosi
Ndebele defeated Brandon
Davis via a dominant decision and Eliezer
Kubanza made Chris Mixan
tap to a Brabo choke. He was also impressed with Rasul
Magomedov’s hard-fought decision win over Sullivan
Cauley and Rafael
Xavier’s first-round buzzer-beater knockout of Tyson
Pedro.

“Tonight was a good night for PFL Africa,” Martin added. “We had
two African fighters represent, and both of them came out with
really, really stellar victories… And then Magomedov — that was a
close fight, and Cauley fought very valiantly… And Xavier, that was
impressive — also can fight standing up, fight on the ground.
These weight classes are still evolving, but you see nights like
tonight, the winners are really putting themselves in positions for
title contention.”

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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