Knockdown Daily 8/13/21: Claressa Shields Set To Make MMA Return In October
Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Claressa Shields has her second MMA assignment set. That fight leads the MMA headlines for Friday.
Welcome to the Friday edition of the Knockdown Daily. This issue is a busy one as there are many big stories from the past 24 hours and numerous MMA events coming up today.
News
Championship Boxer Claressa Shields To Face Abigail Montes At October 27th PFL Final
Boxing champion Claressa Shields will attempt to score her second MMA win when facing Abigail Montes at PFL’s October 27th Grand Final event for 2021. The new matchup was first reported by Glynn A. Hill of the Washington Post.
Shields earned her first MMA win earlier this year by defeating Brittney Elkin. The fight saw Shields struggle in the early rounds, getting controlled on the ground by her opponent, a fighter who has a background in grappling.
Shields was able to secure a stoppage win in the final round of the fight, showing quick fists when arriving in a dominant ground and pound position.
Elkin, Shield’s first opponent, entered the fight with a pro record of three wins and six losses.
Montes, the next challenge for Shields, has a pro record of two wins and no losses.
Montes made her pro debut in 2019 on a Combate Global card (known at the time as Combate Americas). Her last victory came recently when she stopped Teresita De Jesús López with strikes on an iKON card four months back.
Shields has an extensive background in boxing on an amateur and professional level.
The 26-year-old was a gold medalist in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games for middleweight boxing. She made her pro boxing debut in 2016 and has since accumulated 11 consecutive victories in the sport.
Kai Kamaka III Parts Ways With UFC After Four-Fight Stint
Featherweight Kai Kamaka III has parted ways with the UFC after just four appearances for the promotion. News of Kamaka III’s departure from the promotion was first reported by MMA Island on Wednesday.
Kamaka III exits the UFC with a record of one win, two losses and one draw.
His two most recent appearances in the cage have been marred by judging controversies.
Kamaka III fought to a majority draw in his last fight, facing Danny Chavez late last month. The dominant performance from Kamaka III was slightly slowed down during the fight, as he was handed a one-point deduction in the second round due to accidental fouls.
Despite the setback, 11 of 13 media scorecards for that fight still scored Kamaka III as the winner with a score of 29-27, per MMADecisions.com.
Kamaka III’s previous performance was a split decision loss to TJ Brown in May. For that fight, all 15 media scorecards picked Kamaka III as the winner, with five seeing all three rounds going to him.
Kamaka III’s fights in 2020 saw him get finished by Jonathan Pearce and get a “Fight of the Night” award with a win over Tony Kelley.
The 26-year-old entered the promotion last year after a series of wins in Bellator and LFA.
PFL Announces Undercard For Featherweight and Light Heavyweight Semi-Finals
The full 10-fight lineup for PFL’s third and final semi-final playoff event was announced recently.
The main card of the show, which was previously reported, will see featherweights and light heavyweights compete for a spot in the finals later this year. A full breakdown of the recently revealed prelims can be viewed here.
Here’s how the lineup looks currently:
Main Card (10:00PM EDT) (ESPN)
Bout 10: Brendan Loughnane (21-3) vs. Movlid Khaybulaev (17-0-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 9: Chris Wade (19-6) vs. Bubba Jenkins (16-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 8: Emiliano Sordi (23-8-1) vs. Antonio Carlos Junior (11-5) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 7: Cezar Ferreira (14-9) vs. Marthin Hamlet (7-2) (Light Heavyweight)
Preliminary Card (6:30PM EDT) (ESPN+)
Bout 6: Sheymon Moraes (12-5) vs. Lazar Stojadinovic (14-8) (Featherweight)
Bout 5: Chris Camozzi (26-15) vs. Cory Hendricks (8-3) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 4: Anthony Dizy (13-4) vs. Jesse Stirn (11-5) (Featherweight)
Bout 3: Jason Knight (21-6) vs. Bobby Moffett (13-6) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Alejandro Flores (19-3) vs. Carl Deaton III (16-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Brandon Jenkins (14-7) vs. TBA (TBA)
Previews
ONE Championship: Battleground 2
ONE Championship will present an all-MMA lineup for their pre-recorded “Battleground 2” event on Friday morning. The five-fight card has veterans in the main event, as Eduard Folayang and Zhang Lipeng will face off.
ONE vet Folayang will be attempting to break a losing streak. Zhang, a former UFC fighter and frequent fighter in Kunlun Fights, will be making his ONE debut.
Main Card (8:30AM EDT / 8:30PM SGT) (Youtube / Bleacher Report App)
Bout 1: Otgonbaatar Nergui (5-2-1) vs. Rahul Raju (7-6) (135 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Bout 2: Eko Roni Saputra (4-1) vs. Liu Peng Shuai (6-6) (135 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Bout 3: Thomas Narmo (4-0) vs. Alain Ngalani (4-6) (265 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Bout 4: Alex Silva (9-6) vs. Miao Li Tao (6-3) (125 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Bout 5: Eduard Folayang (22-11) vs. Zhang Lipeng (30-11-2) (170 lbs) (MMA Bout)
PFL 7: MacDonald vs. Cooper III
With the 2021 PFL regular season behind us, the promotion will now begin their four-event playoffs. Friday’s show will see lightweights and welterweights compete in the semi-finals of the tournament, looking to punch a ticket into the finals and potentially earn $1 million.
Friday’s card will be the first of many PFL events at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino and Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, USA.
One of the best fights that can be made in the PFL welterweight division will happen in Friday’s main event. The defending 2019 PFL Welterweight Champion Ray Cooper III will look to keep his campaign towards a second title win alive when facing former Bellator Champion and UFC fighter Rory MacDonald.
The four-fight main card are all playoff bouts, but the show also presents six showcase matchups on the prelims as well. That lineup includes many regular season fighters returning, along with many promotional newcomers as well.
A full PFL 7 preview can be read here.
Full Card:
Preliminary Card (5:30PM EDT) (ESPN+ / TSN Direct)
Bout 1: Hopeton Stewart (5-1) vs. Elvin Espinoza (5-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 2: Kyron Bowen (9-6) vs. Michael Lombardo (11-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 3: Magomed Umalatov (10-0) vs. Leandro Silva (25-9-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 4: Brett Cooper (27-15) vs. Tyler Hill (10-5) (Welterweight)
Bout 5: Olivier Aubin-Mercier (12-5) vs. Darrell Horcher (14-4) (Lightweight)
Bout 6: Gleison Tibau (35-15) vs. Micah Terrill (15-8) (Welterweight)
Main Card (9:00PM EDT) (ESPN+ / TSN 2)
Bout 7: Loik Radzhabov (14-3-1) vs. Alexander Martinez (8-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 8: Clay Collard (20-8) vs. Raush Manfio (13-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 9: Magomed Magomedkerimov (28-5) vs. Sadibou Sy (9-5-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 10: Rory MacDonald (22-7-1) vs. Ray Cooper III (22-7-1) (Welterweight)
Bellator 264: Mousasi vs. Salter
Legendary MMA fighter Gegard Mousasi will look to defend his Bellator Middleweight Championship for the first time in his ongoing reign when fighting John Salter on Friday night.
The fight headlines Bellator 264, which is set to happen at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, USA. The show is also scheduled to feature the return of former Bellator Champion Andrey Koreshkov, and a high-level bantamweight bout between Magomed Magomedov and Raufeon Stots.
Continuing Bellator’s troubles this week, another bout was removed from the card on Thursday. Kendly St. Louis missed weight for his lightweight bout against Justin Montalvo by six-and-a-half pounds, forcing their fight to be removed from the lineup.
The change knocked Bellator 264 down to eight fights in total.
A full preview of the card can be read here.
Here’s the lineup:
Preliminary Card (7:25PM EDT) (Youtube)
Bout 1: Orlando Mendoza (0-0) vs. Jon McNeil (0-0) (Catchweight 195 lbs)
Bout 2: Sebastian Ruiz (2-3) vs. Jeffrey Glossner (3-2) (Catchweight 142 lbs)
Bout 3: Pam Sorenson (8-3) vs. Roberta Samad (5-1) (Featherweight)
Main Card (9:00PM EDT) (Showtime)
Bout 4: Ty Gwerder (5-2) vs. Khadzhimurat Bestaev (10-4) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Davion Franklin (3-0) vs. Everett Cummings (15-0) (Heavyweight)
Bout 6: Magomed Magomedov (18-1) vs. Raufeon Stots (16-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 7: Andrey Koreshkov (23-4) vs. Sabah Homasi (15-9) (Welterweight)
Bout 8: Gegard Mousasi (47-7-2) vs. John Salter (18-4) (Bellator Middleweight Championship)
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