A bum big toe knocked a
Professional Fighters League hype train right off the
rails.
Baissangour
Chamsoudinov was awarded a technical knockout over two-time
Glory champion Cedric
Doumbe in the third round of their
PFL Europe 1 headliner on Thursday at Accor Arena in Paris.
Referee Marc Goddard called for the stoppage 1:21 into Round 3
after Doumbe (5-1, 1-1 PFL) twice pointed to his ailing left
foot.
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Chamsoudinov (8-0, 1-0 PFL) controlled much of the first round with
repeated takedowns despite his opponent showing surprising
resourcefulness on the ground. Doumbe rallied in the second behind
a potent jab and improving takedown defense, setting the stage for
what many believed would be the decisive final five minutes.
Instead, Doumbe called attention to his foot—a small foreign body,
perhaps a splinter, was visible—on two occasions, resulting in
pauses to the action and the eventual finish.
Meanwhile, two-division Ares Fighting Championship titleholder
Abdoul
Abdouraguimov rode repeated submission attempts, positional
dominance and superiority in scrambles to a split decision over
Jack
Grant in the three-round welterweight co-main event. Scores
were 30-27 and 29-28 for Abdouraguimov, 29-28 for Grant.
Neither man seemed willing to retreat. Abdouraguimov (18-1, 2-0
PFL) threatened the Englishman’s next with brabo, guillotine and
anaconda chokes, but nothing stuck. Grant held his own in many of
the grappling exchanges, where he scored with punches and
hammerfist while doing more than enough damage to keep the
pro-Abdouraguimov crowd uncomfortable. Alas, it was not enough.
Abdouraguimov did his best work in Round 3, as the MMA Factory
standout zeroed in on the neck repeatedly, set off scrambles and
closed with a punching flurry on his seated adversary in the waning
seconds.
Abdouraguimov, 28, has rattled off eight straight victories.
Further down the card, Ignacio
Capella punched out Yazid
Chouchane in the second round of their lightweight qualifier.
Capella (8-1, 1-0 PFL) drew the curtain in spectacular fashion 2:31
into Round 2, extending his run of consecutive victories to
eight.
Chouchane (10-5, 1-2 PFL) accrued some damage with leg kicks but
could not match the firepower with which he was confronted. Capella
sat down the Frenchman with a stiff jab in the first round and let
his hands fly freely, showing no regard for the return fire heading
back in his direction. He forced Chouchane to the fence midway
through the middle stanza, caught him ducking into a takedown and
connected with a devastating right uppercut for the knockout.
Capella has finished seven of the eight opponents on his current
tear.
Finally, defending PFL Europe lightweight champion Jakub
Kaszuba kicked off his campaign for a repeat and kept his
perfect professional record intact with a unanimous decision over
Kane
Mousah in a three-round qualifier at 155 pounds. All three
judges scored it the same: 29-28 for the undefeated Kaszuba (12-0,
4-0 PFL).
Mousah (14-6, 0-1 PFL) opened a small diagonal cut above his
counterpart’s left eye with a clean one-two in the second round but
otherwise struggled to control distance. Kaszuba executed multiple
takedowns, forced the Manchester Top Team product to carry his
weight in grueling clinches and piled up points with short-range
punches and knee strikes.
The 37-year-old Mousah has lost back-to-back bouts for the first
time in his 20-fight career.
In other PFL Europe playoff qualifiers, Ibrahim Mane (13-4, 1-0
PFL) eked out a split decision—29-28, 28-29, 29-28—over Chequina
Noso Pedro (8-4, 0-1 PFL) in a three-round battle at 170
pounds; Daniele
Miceli (12-5, 1-0 PFL) rendered Yassin
Najid (9-6, 0-1 PFL) unconscious with a shoulder choke 27
seconds into the first round of their welterweight tilt; Connor
Hughes (9-1, 2-1 PFL) brought down Anatolij
Baal (10-4-1, 1-1 PFL) with punches 1:31 into their lightweight
encounter; Daniele
Scatizzi (13-7, 1-0 PFL) took care of Aleksandrs
Chizovs (10-2-1, 1-1-1 PFL) with a heel hook 1:59 into the
first round of their lightweight clash; and Florim
Zendeli (6-1-1, 1-0 PFL) put Tomasz
Langowski (6-5-1, 0-1 PFL) to sleep with a rear-naked choke
4:11 into the first round of their welterweight affair. Deeper on
the undercard, Islem
Masraf (3-0, 1-0 PFL) wiped out Mickael
Groguhe (3-2, 0-1 PFL) with a head kick and follow-up punches
10 seconds into the first round of their heavyweight confrontation;
Patrick
Habirora (3-0, 1-0 PFL) laid claim to a unanimous decision over
Claudio
Pacella (3-2, 0-1 PFL) in a three-round lightweight scrap,
drawing 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 marks from the cageside judges; and
Kevin
Del (5-6-1, 1-0 PFL) put away Younes
Najid (6-6, 0-1 PFL) with a kneebar 70 seconds into the first
round of their middleweight pairing.