12/9/23: PFL Crowns Four European Champions
Results from PFL's final event of the year lead the MMA headlines for Saturday
Welcome to the Saturday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s issue includes a recap of yesterday’s PFL Europe event, a preview of tonight’s UFC card, plus a few other small news stories. Let’s begin.
PFL Crowns Four European Champions At Final Event of 2023
PFL wrapped up their first-ever European season on Friday night, crowning four champions from the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. Champions at bantamweight, lightweight, light heavyweight and flyweight were crowned as part of the event this weekend.
Khurshed Kakhorov earned the PFL Europe Bantamweight Championship, scoring a brutal knockdown right hook knockdown against Frans Mlambo to earn a stoppage in the second round. While Mlambo protested the stoppage right after it happened, it was clear on replays that Mlambo went unconscious from the knockdown punch that Kakhorov landed. The fight was Kakhorov’s third consecutive win this year, coming off wins against Moktar Bekaci and Ali Taleb.
Jakub Kaszuba had an impressive comeback against John Mitchell to keep his pro record flawless and win the PFL Europe Lightweight Championship. After getting hurt and dropped by Mitchell in the first round — a sequence that the referee at one point nearly stopped — Kaszuba rallied back in the second to get Mitchell to the ground with a series of punches and force a stoppage.
Undefeated Dakota Ditcheva won the promotion’s European flyweight title on the main card, doing damage in the first round to force a doctor stoppage against Valentina Scatizzi. Punches and knees from Ditcheva in the clinch caused severe swelling to Scatizzi’s left eye, resulting in a doctor ending the fight after just one round. Ditcheva earned her 10th pro win in the bout, with half of those fights coming inside the PFL cage.
Jakob Nedoh became the first-ever PFL Europe champion in the opening bout of the main card, handing light heavyweight Simeon Powell his first pro loss with a second-round stoppage. Despite Powell having a strong opening round, a right and left hook combination from Nedoh floored him in the second round. Nedoh finished the fight with ground-and-pound shots, giving him his eighth consecutive finish win and first-ever victory outside of the first round.
Friday’s PFL card also included a main event win from Irish talent Nate Kelly and also featured appearances from UFC vets Brett Johns and Tom Breese. Here are the quick results:
Main Card
Bout 12: Nate Kelly def. Dimitry Solimeis via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 1, 4:47)
Bout 11: Khurshed Kakhorov def. Frans Mlambo via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 2:32) (PFL Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 10: Jakub Kaszuba def. John Mitchell via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 3:07) (PFL Europe Lightweight Championship)
Bout 9: Dylan Tuke def. Yazid Chouchane via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 2, 2:36)
Bout 8: Dakota Ditcheva def. Valentina Scatizzi via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 5:00) (PFL Europe Flyweight Championship)
Bout 7: Jakob Nedoh def. Simeon Powell via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 1:16) (PFL Europe Light Heavyweight Championship)
Preliminary Card
Bout 6: Weslley Maia def. Lewis McGrillen-Evans via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 5: Brett Johns def. David Tonatiuh Crol via TKO, Strikes (RD 3, 3:06)
Bout 4: Tom Breese def. Cleiton Silva via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 1, 3:30)
Bout 3: Kikadze Bondo def. Dominique Wooding via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 2: Connor Hughes def. Sebas Santana Guedes via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 5:00)
Bout 1: Nate Kelly def. Calum Seaton via Submission, Anaconda Choke (RD 2, 0:51) (Amateur)
Song Yadong Looks To Close Out His Year With Second Main Event Win
A variety of talent from Asia will be on display this Saturday when UFC presents a card from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. While this event was moved away from China and placed in the U.S. a few weeks ago, it’s still a lineup that includes a showcase of MMA fighters from all around the continent.
Bantamweight Song Yadong will appear in the main event, going a maximum of five rounds against Chris Gutierrez, who will be appearing in a UFC headlining spot for the first time in his career.
Song is no stranger to the main event picture, as this will be his third consecutive appearance in such a spot. He scored a win in his appearance earlier this year, stopping Ricky Simon in the fifth round with punches.
Lower on the card, Sumudaerji and Song Kenan will represent China in their appearances. Sumudaerji received a surprise change in opponent this week, as Tim Elliott stepped in for Allan Nascimento.
Korean talents Park Jun-yong and Park Hyun-sung will be competing as well. Park Jun-yong will be making his 10th UFC appearance, while Park Hyun-sung will be appearing for the very first time since winning the “Road To UFC” tournament earlier this year.
Also on the card is undefeated Japanese talent Tatsuro Taira. The rising prospect will be hunting for his fifth straight UFC win when he faces Carlos Hernandez.
Here’s a full look at Saturday’s UFC card, which will be on at the late hours you would usually see a pay-per-view lineup air during:
Main Card (10:00PM EST / 7:00PM PST) (ESPN+)
Bout 11: Song Yadong (20-7-1) vs. Chris Gutierrez (20-4-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 10: Anthony Smith (37-18) vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. (12-5) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 9: Sumudaerji (16-5) vs. Tim Elliott (19-13-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 8: Nasrat Haqparast (15-5) vs. Jamie Mullarkey (17-6) (Lightweight)
Bout 7: Andre Muniz (23-6) vs. Park Jun-yong (17-5) (Middleweight)
Preliminary Card (7:00PM EST / 4:00PM PST) (ESPN+)
Bout 6: Song Kenan (21-7) vs. Kevin Jousset (9-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 5: Park Hyun-sung (8-0) vs. Shannon Ross (13-8) (Flyweight)
Bout 4: Steve Garcia (14-5) vs. Melquizael Costa (20-6) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Stephanie Egger (8-4) vs. Luana Satnos (6-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Tatsuro Taira (14-0) vs. Carlos Hernandez (9-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Rayanne Amanda (14-6) vs. Talita Alencar (4-0-1) (Strawweight)
OKTAGON Announces 16-Man Lightweight Tournament For 2024
European MMA promotion OKTAGON has announced a 16-man tournament at lightweight, with the winner taking home a grand prize of €1 million.
The tournament, which will kick off next year when they head to Ostrava, Czech Republic on March 2nd, will feature at least 10 different countries. The lightweight tournament will follow OKTAGON’s 16-man welterweight bracket, which kicked off early this year and is scheduled to conclude at their December 29th card.
There are many recognizable names that will be competing in the tournament. 14-fight UFC vet Makwan Amirkhani, former KSW Featherweight Champion Daniel Torres, and 15-bout OKTAGON vet Ronald Paradeiser are among the names that will be competing.
12 of the 16 fighters involved in the bracket have been announced. They are: Ronald Paradeiser, Makwan Amirkhani, Akonne Wanliss, Predrag Bogdanovic, Acoidan Duque, Mohamed Machaev, Daniel Torres, Milos Janicic, Marcel Grabinski, Konrad Dyrschka, Mateusz Legierski, and Vladimir Lengal.
Notes On: ONE Championship & LFA
Three MMA bouts took place this weekend as part of ONE Championship’s “Friday Fights 44” card from the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Babar Ali (7-2) stopped the momentum in ONE of Fritz Aldin Biagtan (6-2), using ground control to pick up a unanimous decision victory.
Carlo Bumina-ang (4-0) needed just seconds to earn another win in ONE, dropping Ilyas Dursin (3-1) in the opening minute with a right hook, and then putting him out with a left hook. Bumina-ang has won three of his four pro victories in ONE since August.
Leandro Gomes (5-1) had an incredibly impressive performance in his ONE debut, using his strikes to overwhelm Milad Huseyini (2-1) for numerous rounds and eventually stop him in the third.
LFA 175 will take place on January 27th from the Ginasio do Polvilho in Cajamar, Sao Paulo, Brazi, per an announcement made earlier this week.