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This past week of fights saw six fighters win $1 million and a wave of Russian and Dagestani fighters have an unbelievable clean sweep over their competition. Let’s take a quick look back at some of the biggest hits and misses from the fight week that was.
Wednesday 8pm ET, 2021 PFL Championships
• HIT Ray Cooper wins (+155) via 3rd-Round Knockout: What a fight for Ray Cooper to plant his flag at the top of the PFL’s welterweight division once again. The most exciting title fight of the night by far saw Cooper, who was on the brink of defeat and potentially getting finished again by Magomed Magomedkerimov (2018, Submission), dig deep and mount a surging comeback of his own that ended with a wild knockout in the Hawaiian’s favor.
• HIT Antonio Carlos Junior (-210) wins via 1st-Round Submission: For Carlos Junior, 2021 was a year that started with him receiving his third consecutive loss in the UFC, and that ended with perfect performance over a physical specimen and becoming $1 million richer. Carlos Junior used his experience and much stronger jiu-jitsu game to handily get the victory and win the PFL Light-Heavyweight title over Marthin Hamlet.
• MISS Claressa Shields loses via Split-Decision to Abigail Montes (+150): Having so much hype and attention surrounding her leap of faith into a completely different sport, the two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields got handled by Montes, who used her grappling and experience to edge out a victory and send the boxing champion back to the drawing board.
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• MISS Molvid Khaybulaev (-185) wins via Unanimous-Decision: A weekend that was full of fighters from Dagestan had teammate and fellow countryman of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Molvid Khaybulaev control every facet of the fight against a discouraged Chris Wade. Khaybulaev remains undefeated and has now made his mark as one of the best featherweights in the world, and will look to win back-to-back PFL titles next season.
Saturday 2pm ET, UFC 267
• HIT Islam Makhachev wins (-500) via 1st-Round Submission: One of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s closest friends and training partners, Makhachev showed why he is the current torch-bearer for the great AKA gym. Makhachev swallowed his ego and didn’t try to play a tit for tat fight with Dan Hooker, the superior striker, but instead set Hooker up by baiting a kickboxing match that ultimately saw Makhachev catch his leg and enforce his will by absolutely crushing Hooker in grappling and submitting the New Zealand fighter.
• HIT Khamzat Chimaev wins (-550) via 1st-Round Submission: What was thought to be the toughest test in Chimaev’s blossoming career against a quality opponent in Li Jingliang, ended in super-quick fashion. Chimaev shot a swift double-leg takedown and then easily maneuvered to Jingliang’s back to rag doll the Chinese fighter. After shouting to Dana White - while in the heat of the fight - Chimaev found his opponent’s neck and finished the deal with a technical rear-naked choke submission.
• MISS Glover Teixeira wins (-300) via 2nd-Round Submission: What a time for the Brazilian native Glover Teixeira to to put on the best performance of his career, as he not only won his first title at 42 years old, but did it by dominating the dangerous Blachowicz. Teixeira won the fight in the boxing exchanges, the fence wrestling and of course when the fight hit the mats, he snatched up a rear-naked choke.
• MISS Petr Yan wins (-240) via Unanimous-Decision: After many experts, former fighters and myself picked Cory Sandhagen to walk in on short notice and hand Petr Yan his first beatdown, Yan proved that he is still evolving and showed off even more striking combinations from his bag of tricks. It’s evident that Yan allows his opponents to win the first round of the fight so that way he can download their in-person speed, range and game plan. Once downloaded into his fiber-optic mind, Yan then gets to work and puts on a show as he takes minimum damage but delivers powerful strike after strike to break his opponent’s will.
Another huge slew of fights this week take place with the return of Canelo Alvarez, plus UFC 268!
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