Undefeated British prospect Simeon
Powell kept his perfect record intact with a one-sided
unanimous decision over a shoe leather-tough Tobias
Baker in a
PFL Challenger Series 8 light heavyweight feature on Friday at
Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The promising 23-year-old
swept the scorecards with 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 marks from the
cageside judges.
Afterward, Powell (5-0) was awarded a
Professional Fighters League contract.
In his first appearance since Nov. 16, 2019, Baker (2-2) was
technically and athletically outmatched on all fronts. Powell
operated behind six-inch reach and eight-inch height advantages and
picked apart the Oregonian with knifing punches, flying knees and
kicks to the head, body and legs. Clearly behind on the scorecards,
Baker made passes at a kneebar, a toe hold and a calf slicer late
in the third round. None of them were successful, and Powell
cruised to the finish line free of real danger.
Meanwhile,
Syndicate MMA export Jeslen
Mishelle leaned on superior conditioning and outstruck Jackie
Cataline to a unanimous decision in a three-round women’s
lightweight clash. All three cageside judges scored it the same:
29-28 for the unbeaten Mishelle (2-0).
Cataline (1-1) executed multiple takedowns in the first round,
progressed to the back and threatened with rear-naked chokes, only
to see those efforts fail to net the desired result. Her pace
slowed to a crawl in the middle stanza and she deteriorated further
in the third. Mishelle slowly but surely seized the reins, as she
battered her counterpart’s lower leg with kicks, mixed in several
Superman punches and cut loose with multi-punch bursts whenever the
mood struck. By the time it was over, Cataline was clearly on
fumes.
In other action, Carlos
Leal Miranda (16-3) eked out a split decision—29-28, 28-29,
29-28—over Chris Brown
(8-4) in a memorable back-and-forth welterweight encounter; and
Ali
Zebian (8-2) took a unanimous decision from Aaron
Blackie (8-3) in a three-round featherweight affair, drawing
29-28 marks from all three judges.