Renan Ferreira Blasts Ryan Bader in ‘PFL vs. Bellator Champs’ Headliner

Renan
Ferreira entered the cage Saturday night with
Professional Fighters League’s honor riding on his shoulders.
His response: No “Problema.”

By the time the main event of
PFL “PFL vs. Bellator Champs” rolled around on Saturday night
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, PFL’s representatives were down 0-5
against their Bellator
MMA counterparts. Ferreira represented PFL’s last chance to
pick up a win over the promotion it acquired in a headline-making
sale late last year, and standing in his way was Ryan Bader, a
former two-division Bellator champ who had looked largely dominant
in going undefeated at heavyweight. None of that mattered once
referee Kerry Hatley motioned the two men into action, however. The
6-foot-8 “Problema” caught Bader on the way in with a crushing left
hand that dropped him. Ferreira followed up with a salvo of massive
ground strikes, some of which may have strayed to the back of
Bader’s head, but once Hatley jumped in for the stoppage at just 21
seconds, there was no talk of replay or review. The quick and
brutal win brought Ferreira’s record to 13-3 with three no
contests, while the 40-year-old Bader fell to 31-8 with one no
contest.

The co-main event saw Bellator middleweight champ Johnny
Eblen (15-0) eke out a narrow win over PFL light heavyweight
tournament winner Impa
Kasanganay (15-4) in a closely contested 185-pound affair.
Eblen got the better of a competitive Round 1 with a combination of
takedowns, sporadic but effective ground strikes, and pressure that
kept Kasanganay from being able to mount much offense of his own.
That changed in a flash in Round 2, however, as “Tshilobo” rocked
Eblen with punches, fought off desperation takedown attempts, and
poured on the punishment. Things looked to be headed toward a
stoppage for Kasanganay, or at least a 10-8 round, but Eblen
recovered, finally secured a takedown and got off enough offense
before the bell to win back a measure of momentum, though it was
still a clear Kasanganay round. With both men clearly fatigued
going into the final round, and the outcome still very much in the
balance, neither champ was able to truly take over until late, when
Eblen secured a takedown, moved to back mount, locked up a body
triangle and punched away until the final bell. The judges were
divided, with two seeing the fight 29-28 in favor of Eblen, while
the other scored it for Kasanganay by the same tally.

In a battle of welterweight standouts—though it took place at a
182-pound catchweight—Bellator champ Jason
Jackson (18-4) outclassed two-time PFL tournament winner
Ray
Cooper III (25-10-1) from the get-go, keeping the shorter man
on the outside and brutalizing him with calf kicks en route to a
second-round stoppage. Jackson was clearly aware of the knockout
power of “Bradda Boy,” but Cooper was unable to navigate the
disparity in reach, and his failure to check or counter Jackson’s
steady stream of low kicks spelled trouble quickly. By the midpoint
of the first round, Cooper was visibly favoring his left leg, and
he found himself in serious peril at the end of the round, when
Jackson threw a flurry of blows from top position, similar to those
with which Aaron Pico
had gotten a buzzer-beating TKO earlier in the evening. Cooper made
it to the bell, but it was only a momentary reprieve:

Jackson went right back to work on the calf in Round 2, Cooper’s
left leg gave out and “The Ass-Kicking Machine” swarmed with
punches for the TKO finish at the 23-second mark.
Jackson’s win, his eighth in a row, left him in possession of a
shiny gold belt and the status of one of PFL’s top fighters;
Cooper’s third straight loss left him looking increasingly like a
fighter whose best days are behind him.

Bellator light heavyweight champ Vadim
Nemkov (17-2-1, 1 NC) made a successful foray into heavyweight,
throttling Bruno
Cappelozza (15-7, 1 NC) unconscious with an arm-triangle choke
in the second round of their main card feature. It was not without
intrigue, however, as Cappelozza, despite being the lighter man in
the cage, pushed the Russian around a bit and more than held his
own in clinch exchanges. After a back-and-forth first round,
Cappelozza was off to an excellent start in Round 2, hurting Nemkov
with a high kick and a clean short right hand, when Nemkov changed
levels for an easy takedown. From there, the Fedor
Emelianenko disciple applied an arm-triangle, moved to side
control and squeezed until the Brazilian went limp. Referee Kerry
Hatley moved in to rescue the snoozing Cappelozza at 2:13, marking
a 13th straight fight (12 wins, one no contest) for Nemkov since
his last loss. The victory certified Nemkov as a top contender in
his new promotion, whether he elects to compete at heavyweight,
light heavyweight or both.

In a battle of ex-UFC contenders and longtime former teammates,
Yoel
Romero (16-7) outlasted Thiago
Santos (22-12). The fight was contested completely on the feet
and, true to both men’s recent tendencies, played out mostly as a
slow-paced exchange of kicks at range. What appeared to be a fairly
even matchup proved less so, however, as Santos’ oft-injured knees
began to betray him. As the fight wore on, Santos became less and
less capable of returning fire, and by the end of the fight was
having trouble moving laterally. There was not much suspense during
the fight, nor afterward, as the judges rendered a unanimous
decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in favor of the Cuban. The win put
the 46-year-old “Soldier of God” back in the win column after his
unsuccessful title bid last summer, while Santos’ winless streak
was extended to four straight and seven of his last eight.

In the main card opener, A.J. McKee
(22-1) short-circuited any potential clash of dazzling strikers,
grounding Clay
Collard (24-12-1) with ease and tapping him out in the first
round. Much of the talk ahead of their bout had centered on which
man was the better standup fighter, with PFL representative and
former bare-knuckle boxing standout Collard insisting it would
prove to be him. Once the fight began, however, McKee took Collard
down with a fast single-leg, and from there, the rout was on.

McKee threatened with a tight guillotine choke, then transitioned
to a triangle choke and finally an armbar, which elicited the tap
from Collard at 70 seconds of Round 1. McKee’s fourth
win in a row since moving up to 155 pounds certified him as an
immediate person of interest in his new promotion—even more so than
before—while Collard suffered his second consecutive loss.

Prelims: Pico Buries Short-Notice Foe Corrales

Aaron
Pico (13-4) salvaged a win out of a disastrous fight week and
exacted a measure of revenge on a former tormentor, pounding out
Henry
Corrales (21-8) in the first round of their lightweight clash.
Pico, who had been scheduled to face Gabriel
Alves Braga in a featherweight affair, found himself in Riyadh
without a dance partner when Braga was drafted to face Patricio
Freire, then fell off the card entirely. Pico briefly lobbied
for a shot at Freire but ended up taking on Corrales in an
ultra-short-notice lightweight bout. The two had fought previously,
with Corrales knocking Pico out in their first meeting at Bellator
214 five years ago. This time, Pico was all over “OK” from the
jump, dragging him to the ground on a second-effort takedown and
swarming all over him. Corrales got back up, but Pico got the
better of the action on the feet as well, landing some hard body
kicks before taking him down again.
Pico was well on his way to winning a one-sided round, but decided
to step on the gas at the 10-second clapper, pouring on the
punishment and spurring referee Bryan Miner into action for the TKO
stoppage at 4 minutes, 53 seconds. The win, Pico’s
third in a row, left him 9-1 in his last 10 since dropping
back-to-back fights to Corrales and Adam Borics
in 2019. The loss was Corrales’ second in a row, representing his
first such streak in over four years.

Before that, Biaggio
Ali Walsh (1-0) made a successful professional debut, taking
three dominant rounds from Emmanuel
Palacio (1-1) in their lightweight feature. It may not have
featured much of the fireworks promised by Walsh’s torrid closing
run as an amateur, but the grandson of Muhammad
Ali leveraged his clear advantages in size, strength and
technique to pitch a near no-hitter against the Argentinean
striker. The bout was characterized by two elements: Palacio’s
complete inability to stop Walsh’s takedowns, and Walsh’s failure
to truly capitalize on that inability. Referee Kerry Hatley stood
the two up several times for inactivity, only to have Walsh
effortlessly dump Palacio to the canvas again seconds later. While
the result may not have been aesthetically pleasing, it was also a
showcase in that Walsh appeared to win every minute of the bout.
That was borne out by the judges, who scored the fight for Walsh
via unanimous 30-27 scores.

Meanwhile, Claressa
Shields (2-1) continued her gradual matriculation as a mixed
martial artist with a narrow win over Kelsey De
Santis (1-3). In a bout that was pushed from 155 to 165 pounds,
Shields was forced to show she had made strides in the ground game,
as De Santis took her down, moved to mount and worked for an
armbar. Shields survived and escaped, however, and De Santis looked
to be the more tired fighter by the end of the round. That was
borne out in Round 2, as Shields had her best round, catching De
Santis with clean punch combinations and several hard right
crosses, while De Santis struggled to bring the fight to the floor.
Shields clearly had the momentum going into the final frame, but De
Santis managed to make things interesting, securing a takedown late
in the round and mounting the former boxing champ. From there,
however, De Santis was too tired to do much damage, and the round
could easily have been scored for either woman. The official judges
saw it that way, scoring the fight for Shields by split scorecards
of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29.

In other action, Abdullah
Al-Qahtani (8-1) left Edukondal
Rao (5-2) in the dust, teeing off on his increasingly exhausted
foe on the way to a third-round TKO win in their featherweight
prelim showcase. For about three minutes, local favorite Al-Qahtani
and India’s Rao appeared to be on their way to a “Fight of the
Night”-worthy scrap, as each man hurt the other in a series of wild
exchanges on the feet and on the ground. However, late in the first
round Rao became visibly fatigued, while Al-Qahtani picked up
momentum, hoisting Rao and slamming him to the canvas, eliciting a
roar from the crowd. The second round continued the trend, as
Al-Qahtani threatened to take over completely, with Rao rallying
periodically with just enough offense to stave off a complete rout.
Referee Bryan Miner called in the cageside physician before
allowing Rao to come out for the final frame. The doctor
acquiesced, but the finish was not long in coming.
With Rao staggering around, scarcely defending himself as
Al-Qahtani poured on the punches, punctuated by a final head kick,
Miner stepped in for the mercy stoppage at 23 seconds of Round
3.

In the opening bout, a 129-pound amateur affair, Saudi prospect
Malik
Basahel edged out Vinicius
Pereira across three hard-fought rounds. The bout, which was
forced up to a catchweight when Pereira missed the flyweight limit,
played out as an energetic wrestler vs. grappler affair. Basahel
grounded Pereira with apparent ease in each round, but nonetheless
found himself in trouble in the middle frame when the Brazilian
swept him, took back mount and spent much of the round working for
chokes. The bulk of the fight saw Basahel in control, however, and
the judges awarded him the victory by unanimous decision (30-27,
30-27, 29-28).