Ray Cooper III, PFL's 2019 welterweight champion, was able to claim a second $1,000,000 in a row after he defeated Rory MacDonald, a former Bellator champion and UFC title challenger, in Friday night's playoff semifinals in Hollywood, Florida.Cooper won the 2019 title, but he was unable to defend it in 2020 because the PFL cancelled the season due to the coronavirus pandemic. He also had the opportunity to avenge his 2018 loss. Sadibou Sy, the season's champion, beat Magomed Magomedkerimov in the other semifinal, setting up the rematch.Top-seeded Loik Radizhabov, who was in the PFL's lightweight category, won the rematch to avenge a loss against Alexander Martinez and secured his second consecutive trip to the PFL lightweight finals. Raush Manfio will be his opponent. He beat Clay Collard to secure the other spot at the PFL lightweight finals in 2021.Cooper's performance in the playoff fights was the best. Cooper also got another shot at Magomedkerimov, helping to fuel that win.Ray Cooper III kept Rory MacDonald off the mat during their semifinal PFL welterweight fight. He won unanimously. Cooper Neill / PFL"This was my plan. Cooper was a 30-27 winner in all three scorecards. "He won't be able get away this time."Cooper ran through MacDonald who was out to wrestle him early on. Cooper was unable to get him to the mat after he initiated a clinch against MacDonald's cage. Cooper took down Cooper midway through Round 1. Cooper fought on until the horn. He advanced to half guard, and threatened a submission using an arm-triangle choke.MacDonald was able to survive, but he was back on his own within one minute of Round 2. He remained there until Gary Copeland, the referee, stood the fighters up with just over a minute remaining in the round. Cooper was still in half guard and landing punches. Unperturbed, MacDonald was taken back to the mat by the Hawaiian who held him there until the end.Round 3 saw the fighters exchange punches and Cooper used aggression to push MacDonald to the mat. The fight continued.MacDonald's defeat was the end of the high-profile trio offseason signees to the PFL. To beef up their roster, the promotion brought in three top-notch free agents with long UFC resumes and title pedigrees. However, two of them, heavyweight Fabricio Werdum, and lightweight Anthony Pettis (both former UFC champs), did not make it to the playoffs. MacDonald made it in, although his performance on Friday night wasn't great. The $1 million at welterweight will be awarded to either the 2018 champ or 2019 champ. Thus, the old guard takes the win.Take a look at the 2021 PFL welterweight and lightweight finalsWelterweight: Ray Cooper III against Magomed MagomedkerimovCooper has been talking about this fight since before the season. He didn't aim at MacDonald, he just wanted another chance at Magomedkerimov. He now has it and Cooper is a serious threat to Magomedkerimov.Cooper's ability to wrestle will be tested by the Russian. However, he doesn’t need to be as dominant on ground as he was against MacDonald. Cooper just has to keep the fight going, where his heavy hands will give him his best chance of walking away with an additional $1 million check.Raush Manfio and Loik Radzhabov are lightweightIn the semifinals, neither of these fighters gave a stellar performance. Although Clay Collard was the winner, I felt Manfio lost to Manfio. Radzhabov won the fight, but he did have some dangerous moments.Manfio is a powerful grappler who can take advantage of Radzhabov's forward-moving grappler.Magomed Magomedkerimov was unanimously defeated by Sadibou Sy to qualify for the PFL finals at welterweight. Magomedkerimov was the winner of the PFL welterweight title in 2018. He was forced to withdraw during the 2019 playoffs. Cooper Neill / PFLWelterweight: No. 4 Magomed Magomedkerimov def. No. 5 Sadibou Sy via unanimous decisionTwelve seconds. Magomedkerimov was able to knock Sy out in twelve seconds. Magomedkerimov dominated the remainder of the round, starting from the top. He also had the advantage in the subsequent rounds.Magomedkerimov won his 13th consecutive victory and was awarded a place in the PFL Welterweight final. Here, the Russian will try to become a PFL two-time champion.Magomedkerimov didn't get an immediate takedown in Round 2. The bout didn’t reach the canvas until just over a minute was left in the round. Sy also did not make it to the mat in round three. This was a positive outcome for Sy. However, the 34-year old Swede -- an alternative entry in this semifinal due to Joao Zeferino being unable to compete -- was too focused on takingdown defense and didn't manage any offense.The bout was scored by all three judges as Magomedkerimov, 2018 PFL welterweight champion. He is now 9-0 in the promotion, and hasn't lost a fight since 2015.Clay Collard was defeated by Raush Manfio (right) in a unanimous decision. This earned Raush Manfio a place in the 2021 PFL lightweight finals. Cooper Neill / PFLLightweight: No. 3 Raush Manfio def. No. 2 Clay Collard via unanimous decisionThe verdict was read and it was announced that all three judges had given the bout a 29-28 score. Collard raised his right hand triumphantly in anticipation of hearing his name. Manfio stood there, his head down. Or he did until he heard his name. Manfio was then exalted.Manfio was a finalist in the lightweight category. His dream to follow in the footsteps his friend and trainer, Natan Schulte (145-pound season champion in PFL's previous seasons), was still alive.Manfio stated, "I must keep this belt in my family." "It's going to stay at American Top Team. I will bring one belt to Natan.The fight was close and Collard seemed to be winning. He won the second round easily and seemed to win Round 1. It seemed too little too late when Manfio regained control of Round 3. However, this was not the case.Brazil's 29-year old, who trains with Schulte in South Florida earned a spot against Loik Radzhabov in the final. He had just won his semifinal fight.Collard was able to land more strikes and volume and Manfio was throwing more power. However, Collard's face was more bloodied after three rounds. Scorecards often take a surprising turn, and neither man tried to beat the other.Alexander Martinez won a split decision against Loik Radzhabov in the regular season of the PFL. Radzhabov won the rematch and was awarded a spot in 2021's PFL lightweight division by unanimous decision. Cooper Neill / PFLLightweight semifinals: No. 1 Loik Radzhabov def. No. 4 Alexander Martinez by unanimous decisionRadzhabov fought Martinez less than four months ago. Radzhabov was scored by one judge, while Martinez was won by two judges in split-decision.Both lightweights made adjustments to the high-stakes rematch. Radzhabov's relentless grappling was the difference. He produced six takedowns as well as long spells on the ground that secured the victory and a place in the PFL lightweight final.Radzhabov stated, "I have high hopes for the final fight." "This is the moment that I must win the title. I must make the million. I must also bring the title and the belt to my homeland, Tajikistan. People are watching and I want them proud of me."Radzhabov (30) was a 2019 PFL Lightweight Finalist. He lost to Natan Schulte, who was back-to-back champion.Martinez was beaten in the rematch. Radzhabov scored the biggest punches, one of which landed on Martinez's head in the first round. Radzhabov won the fight by grappling. However, he had to resist a few Martinez submission attempts.This time the verdict was unanimous as judges scored 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28.Welterweight: Gleison Tibau def. Micah Terrill in first round submission (arm triangle choke).Tibau displayed his submission grappling skills when the fight reached the canvas at 2:07 in Round 1. He quickly secured an arm triangle choke and got the finish just seconds later. Terrill seemed ready to tap out but his arm went limp, and referee Gary Copeland intervened to stop the bout at Round 2.17.Tibau, who has submitted 15 times in his career, appeared comfortable on his feet during the first round. He traded punches with Terrill before taking Terrill, a late replacement opponent, and throwing him to his mat. Tibau, a 38 year-old Brazilian, quickly gained the top spot in side control and finished 17 seconds later. His record now stands at 36-15.Olivier Aubin Mercier won his second consecutive fight in the PFL. He survived a first round knockdown to win a unanimous victory over Darrell Horcher. Cooper Neill / PFLLightweight: Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Darrell Horcher unanimouslyAubin-Mercier gave a great performance in this fight of UFC veterans. He won all three rounds and took the win. Horcher was immobilized by more than a dozen calf kicks during Round 1. He then won the round and landed a torrent of punches. The ground-and-pound battle continued in Round 2.Horcher did not have an answer for the grappling. However, Horcher did have a brief moment of success on his feet in the first round. He caught an OAM punch and then countered with a series of punches that knocked Aubin-Mercier off his feet. Horcher was apparently so impressed by this that the judges awarded him the round. The scores were 29-28, 30-26 and 29-28. Aubin-Mercier won Round 2 and 3. Aubin-Mercier moved up to 2-0 in PFL, bumping him to 13-5 for his career. Horcher made his PFL debut and dropped to 14-5.Lightweight: Brett Cooper def. Tyler Hill by first round TKO (punches).Cooper came in with 17 career knockouts to Hill's 15 and this disparity quickly became apparent in his dominant performance. Cooper, who has fought 43 times in Bellator, had a dominant performance from the beginning. He dominated Hill, stabbing him with an aggressive attack, and then he was beaten on the feet. Cooper's first fight in almost two years saw him win, moving him to 28-15 for his career.Cooper managed to pack a lot into 2:32. He got three takedowns, and landed 47 strikes against Hill. Before Keith Peterson intervened, the barrage was stopped mercifully. Hill was defeated 10-6.Welterweight: Magomed Umalatov defeats. Micah Terrill unanimously decidedUmalatov is primarily a wrestler and Silva is a jiu jitsu practitioner. The match ended up almost entirely on the feet. Umalatov used fast, all-angles striking as well as unpredictable footwork to stay unbeaten.However, it was the first time that the now 11-0 Russian had gone to the finish -- all his previous wins were finishes with seven of them coming in round one. Silva's pro-career record dropped to 25-10-1.Welterweight: Michael Lombardo def. Kyron Bowen via TKO in the first round (calf kicks/punches).Bowen, at 6-foot-2 is tall for a welterweight. Lombardo cut Bowen to size by first landing several overhand right up to Bowen's head and then hobbling Bowen using kicks to his left calf.Bowen was unable to move forward due to the first, and the second made him yell and grab his legs. Lombardo grasped Bowen’s injured leg with one hand and punched it with the other before landing a third kick that grounded Bowen's calves. Bowen's pained yell and that last kick caused referee Copeland to call off Round 1. Lombardo improved to 12-2, with one win in his career. Bowen fell to 9-7.Lightweight: Elvin Espinoza def. Hopeton Stewart via technical submission (rear naked choke) in the first round.The card opened with a matchup between two Miami-based fighters making their PFL debuts. Espinoza, who was unbeaten, was in control right from the beginning. Espinoza took control of the fight early and tried to get a rear-naked choke. He was able lock it in. Stewart was unconscious from the choke and Keith Peterson, referee, intervened to stop the fight at Round 2.
