First off, Happy New Year! 2019 should be a very exciting year for the sport of MMA. But before we get to the new year, we have to talk about the PFL card that went down Monday night. PFL 11: The Championship took place New Year’s Eve at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. It was the finale of PFL’s first season, and six new champions were crowned, all of whom won $1 million for coming on top of their respective weight classes. Here’s a recap of what happened last night in this edition of MMA odds and ends.
PFL 11 Results
In the heavyweight final, Phillipe Lins defeated Josh Copeland via fourth-round TKO. Lins closed as just a -155 favorite in a fight he pretty much dominated from the opening bell.
In the light heavyweight final, Sean O’Connell defeated Vinny Magalhaes via third-round TKO to become the new PFL light heavyweight champion. “The Real OC” cashed as a +400 underdog, and after collecting his check and the belt retired from MMA.
In the middleweight final, Louis Taylor only needed 33 seconds to knock out Abusupiyan Magomedov to become the new PFL middleweight champion. Taylor scored as a +240 underdog, and dedicated the win to his family afterwards.
In the welterweight final, Magomed Magomedkerimov submitted Ray Cooper III in the second round via guillotine choke to become the new PFL welterweight champion. Magomedkerimov was a +165 dog at close.
In the lightweight final, Nathan Schulte won a close decision over Rashid Magomedov to become the new PFL lightweight champion. Schulte closed as a +200 underdog.
In the featherweight final, Lance Palmer won a unanimous decision over Steven Siler to become the new PFL featherweight champion. Palmer was a -700 favorite to pick up his second victory over Siler and become a two-time PFL/WSOF champ.
In a women’s featured lightweight bout, Kayla Harrison destroyed Moriel Charneski via first-round TKO. Harrison closed as a massive -1750 favorite and her peformance proved those odds were warranted. She’s set to fight in the promotion’s second season women’s lightweight tournament.
Additonally, RIZIN 14 finished Monday morning for the North American audience. As I wasn’t able to get to that card in yesterday’s MMA odds and ends, here’s a recap of what took place on that card.
RIZIN 14 Results
– Floyd Mayweather needed less than a round to KO Tenshin Nasukawa in a special attraction modified boxing match. Several Bookmakers didn’t offer odds for this card, but Bovada did. Mayweather cashed as a -340 favorite with them.
– Kyoji Horiguchi submitted Darrion Caldwell to win the RIZIN bantamweight title. He closed as a +170 underdog for some reason. I’m not really sure why Caldwell got so much respect here considering how talented Horiguchi is. It would be nice to see him back in the UFC.
– Damien Brown pulled off the upset over Daron Cruickshank with a first-round submission, scoring as a +245 dog.
– Yuki Motoya continued the trend of upsets with a first-round submission over Justin Scoggins. Motoya was +225.
– Johnny Case finished Yusuke Yachi late in round two as a -215 favorite.
– Jiri Prochazka defeated Brandon Halsey via first-round stoppage as a -415 favorite.
– And finally, Ulka Sasaki won a three-round decision over Manel Kape as a -215 favorite.
