There were expected miscues and missteps, but three-division boxing
champion Claressa
Shields made a successful crossover to mixed martial arts under
the
Professional Fighters League flag.
Operating out of the famed
Jackson-Wink MMA camp, Shields weathered significant adversity,
stayed composed and turned away Brittney
Elkin with punches in the third round of their
PFL 4 headliner on Thursday at the Ocean Casino Resort in
Atlantic City, New Jersey. Elkin (3-7, 0-2 PFL) succumbed to blows
1:44 into Round 3, as she suffered her fourth straight defeat.
The performance was far from perfect. Elkin largely dominated the
first two rounds with well-timed takedowns and positional advances.
She achieved full mount in both rounds, but her failure to close
the deal proved costly. Near the end of the middle stanza, Shields
(1-0, 1-0 PFL) reversed position, cut loose with her hands and
started to turn the tide. She sprawled out of a takedown in the
third, trapped the fading Elkin beneath her and forced referee
Gasper
Oliver to intervene with a sustained barrage of punches to the
head.
Meanwhile, Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Clay
Collard waded through considerable difficulty and edged a
disruptive Joilton
Lutterbach by split decision in the three-round lightweight
co-main event. All three judges scored it 29-28, two of them siding
with Collard (20-8, 2-0 PFL).
Lutterbach (34-10, 0-2 PFL) secured takedowns in all three rounds
and nearly choked out the former Showdown Fights titleholder inside
the first five minutes. Even so, he did not do enough to counteract
Collard’s advantages in the striking department. “Cassius Clay”
connected with occasional power punches to the head, zeroed in on
the body in short but effective volleys and delivered standing body
kicks to the grounded Lutterbach more than once. Collard sprawled
out of multiple takedown attempts in the third round, made a pass
at a kneebar and stayed active enough off his back to keep the
Brazilian out of his comfort zone.
Collard, 28, has pieced together a four-fight winning streak.
Elsewhere, former Brave Combat Federation champion Bubba
Jenkins leaned on a suffocating clinch, positional control and
ground-and-pound, as he earned a unanimous decision over Bobby
Moffett in a three-round lightweight feature. All three
cageside judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Jenkins (16-4, 2-0
PFL), who finds himself on a five-fight winning streak.
The 31-year-old Moffett (13-6, 0-1 PFL) failed to keep the two-time
NCAA All-American wrestler at bay through two rounds. Jenkins was
surprisingly effective on the feet, closed the distance with ease
and piled up points with punches at phonebooth range. Moffett made
his move in the third, where he threatened his visibly weary
counterpart with a ninja choke and kept his foot on the gas until
the end. However, one last burst of punches and knees did not fell
Jenkins along the fence, a late rally falling short for the Fight
Ready representative.
Moffett has lost three fights in a row.
Finally, Dana White’s Contender Series alum Brendan
Loughnane outstruck Tyler
Diamond to a majority decision in a three-round lightweight
showcase. Two judges struck 30-27 and 29-27 scorecards for
Loughnane (21-3, 4-0 PFL), while a third ruled it a 28-28 draw.
Diamond (12-2, 1-1 PFL) absorbed copious amounts of punishment
across the 15-minute scrap. Loughnane cracked him with repeated
kicks to the lower leg and paired them with crisp punching
combinations upstairs. He did his best work in the second round,
where he nearly finished it on more than one occasion. Fatigue—and
the significant damage Loughnane had suffered to his nose—stole
some of his zip down the stretch and allowed Diamond to stay
competitive. However, the finish he needed was never in play.
Loughnane turned up the heat in the waning seconds, as he pinned
the Team Alpha Male rep to the fence and unleashed with punches and
knees.
The 31-year-old Loughnane has rattled off seven consecutive
victories.
In other action, Natan
Schulte (21-4-1, 10-1-1 PFL) eked out a split decision—28-29,
29-28, 29-28—over Alex
Martinez (8-1, 1-1 PFL) in a three-round lightweight tilt;
Olivier
Aubin-Mercier (12-5, 1-0 PFL) took a unanimous decision from
Marcin
Held (27-8, 1-1 PFL) in a three-round lightweight affair,
drawing 30-27 scores from all three judges; Loik
Radzhabov (14-3-1, 3-3-1 PFL) put away Akhmed
Aliev (20-7, 3-3 PFL) with punches 27 seconds into the first round of
their lightweight encounter; Sheymon
Moraes (12-5, 1-1 PFL) submitted Jesse Stirn
(11-5, 0-1 PFL) with a kimura 4:59 into the second round of their
featherweight clash; and Chris Wade
(19-6, 7-3 PFL) cut down Arman
Ospanov (11-4, 0-1 PFL) with a head kick and follow-up punches 2:18 into
the second round of their featherweight pairing.