Dilano
Taylor made the most of his short-notice opportunity in the
Professional Fighters League playoffs.
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With two days to go until last Saturday’s PFL 8 card in Cardiff,
Wales, the organization announced that Taylor would replace
Magomed
Umalatov in the semifinals of the welterweight tournament.
Despite being called up at the last minute and facing the favored
Rory
MacDonald, the Jamaican surprised “The Red King” with a
first-round knockout.
Taylor told Sherdog.com that he was hoping to get a chance to fill
in as a substitute while also helping prepare teammate Jason
Jackson for his triumph over Douglas
Lima at Bellator 283 on July 27.
“I felt like I was destined to be in this competition,” Taylor
said. “I always talk about opportunities and how they present
themselves. I’m always training and waiting for a chance, and I was
helping my partner Jason and I would be his corner as well. So when
they called me, I was ready. I just hadn’t studied Rory, but I was
confident that I would win whoever the opponent was.”
PFL champions receive a $1 million payout for winning the
tournament, and the Jamaican fighter already has an idea of what
he’d like to do with the prize if he defeats Sadibou Sy
in November.
“I want to buy land or a house for myself and my family,” he said.
“If possible, I would like to help fighters from Jamaica, who need
help to grow in MMA.”
A brown belt in jiu-jitsu, Taylor teaches children’s classes at the
American Top Team in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. a branch run by Junior
Fernandes. His fight training takes place at the Sanford MMA gym,
where he works with partners like brothers Gilbert
Burns and Herbert
Burns.
“Teaching helps me adjust skills. In teaching, you see things that
sometimes in training you can’t. And training on a team like
Sanford, I have intensity, and my experience as a teacher also
shows me when I have to slow down,” Taylor said. “I live in fight
situations with guys like Gilbert, Herbert, Jason
Jackson, Impa
Kasanganay, Landon Quinones, Ian Garry,
Michael
Johnson… So I feel like I’m ready to be champion of an event
like the PFL.”