Welcome to the 6th Round Retro Post-Fight Show. This is the show that digs into the archives and gives you a comprehensive review of classic MMA events, that span as far back as UFC 1.

Join Eddie Mercado & Victor Rodriguez as they delve into the world of the PFL (Professional Fighter’s League) 2018 Championship Event this week, straight out of the archives of yesteryear. So let’s take a trip back to Mon, Dec 31, 2018.

The guys will explore the inaugural championship MMA event for the 2018 PFL season, entitled: ‘PFL 2018 Championship’, aka: ‘PFL 11’ – complete with results, analysis, and of course a few laughs. The event was broadcast live on New Year’s Eve (Dec 31, 2018) as mentioned, LIVE from the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in NYC, NY.

For those of you not in the know, the PFL is the first major MMA organization in which individual athletes compete in a regular season, post-season and championship, rather than on a year-round basis; putting on fights across six weight-divisions: featherweight, women’s lightweight, lightweight, welterweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. These events are held within a ten-sided MMA cage known as the ‘SmartCage’, adhering to the unified rules of MMA, with the exception of prohibiting any elbow strikes. For more on their Fight Format and Point System, which determines the championship series outcomes, read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Fighters_League#Fight_format_and_point_system

The event was the eleventh and final event of the 2018 season. Each champion in the six weight classes was crowned and won a championship prize of $1 million each. For this debut season they opened the fighter pool at the beginning of the season with 72 fighters across their six weight-classes, competing in seven regular season events. The top eight in each division squared off in single elimination, bracket-style playoff fights.

Overall, we had a total of seven bouts, with five of them ending in finishes, resulting in six new millionaires (prior to taxes, of course), and including one two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in her third MMA fight. The event had what TV Ratings averaging 204,000 viewers.

If you would like to watch the event, it can be found in the PFL Archives OR via the Official PFL YouTube Channel under the names of the fighters of each bout.

Join us to rediscover all the action and discuss as we go along! Let’s check it out!

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 INTRO
1:49 Segue into the Event
7:38 Event Details
9:21 Taylor vs Magomedov
17:52 Palmer vs Siler
24:16 Schulte vs. Magomedov
29:30 Harrison vs. Charneski
35:56 O’Connell vs. Magalhães
40:59 Lins vs. Copeland
45:55 Magomedkerimov vs. Cooper III
50:31 Event Recap
52:53 Wrap Up
53:14 OUTRO

(SPOILERS)

The fight card was set up as follows... fight card via tapology.com:

PFL Welterweight Championship
7. Magomed Magomedkerimov (23-5) Def. Ray Cooper III (17-6) – Sub (guillotine choke) 2:18 of Round 2

PFL Heavyweight Championship
6. Philipe Lins (14-3) Def. Josh Copeland (18-6) – TKO (knees & punches) 0:30 of Round 4 of 5

PFL Light Heavyweight Championship
5. Sean O’Connell (21-10) Def. Vinny Magalhães (18-10) – TKO (corner stoppage followed by Retirement) 5:00 of Round 3 of 5

PFL Women’s Lightweight Championship
4. Kayla Harrison (3-0) Def. Moriel Charneski (3-5) TKO (punches) 3:39 of Round 1 of 3

PFL Lightweight Championship
3. Natan Schulte (15-3) Def. Rashid Magomedov (22-3) – Dec (unanimous) (48-46, 48-46, 48-46) – 5 Rounds

PFL Featherweight Championship
2. Lance Palmer (17-3) Def. Steven Siler (32-17) – Dec (unanimous) (50-43, 50-45, 49-46) – 5 Rounds

PFL Middleweight Championship
1. Louis Taylor (18-4) Def. Abusupiyan Magomedov (22-4) – KO (punch) 0:33 of Round 1 of 5

If you enjoy our shows, "heart" us here on SC, or "like" & share over on whichever BE Presents Podcast Channel happens to be your listening platform of choice.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bloodyelbowpodcast.substack.com/subscribe