Three out of three: how Magomedkerimov and Umalatov won by knockouts, and Mokhnatkina by a split decision

The next tournament of the Professional Fighters League has traditionally not been without a large number of changes in the composition of the participants and cancellations of fights.

And if the star Kayla Harrison learned in advance about the change of opponent, then some of the Russians began to face difficulties at the very last moment.

So, initially four athletes from Russia were supposed to perform in Atlanta, but later their number was reduced to three.

Most unlucky was Nikolai Aleksakhin, who had an appointment with Gleison Tibau himself, an ex-UFC fighter who at one time put up serious resistance to the future member of the Championship Hall of Fame, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

But at the last moment, the Brazilian withdrew from the show, and was replaced by compatriot Carlos Leal, who in May defeated the current Grand Prix triumphant Ray Cooper third.

But this fight was not destined to take place.

The representative of the Rat team referred to health problems and lost his chances to get into the playoffs, and also seriously complicated the life of his compatriots.

The first of the Russians to enter the cage was Marina Mokhnatkina, who at that time retained the chances of getting into the semi-finals of the PFL Grand Prix in lightweight.

True, for this she needed to deal with Abby Montes, and certainly in the first round.

Only in this case, she overtook Ukrainian Alena Kolesnik and took fourth place in the standings.

However, it immediately became clear that the battle with Montes would not be an easy walk.

Although she could not boast of sophisticated striking techniques and did not look very confident in the fight, she did not hesitate to go with Mokhnatkina in exchange and sometimes even succeeded.

The Russian woman was still a little more active and more accurate, and the control at the net added a few more points to her piggy bank, but this was not enough to win a ticket to the next stage of the competition.

Thus, starting from the second round, Mokhnatkina worked exclusively on improving her professional record.

In the standing position, the situation has not changed much, but in the fight she managed to move a little.

With a spectacular sweep, Marina managed to knock Abby onto the canvas and even took her back, but she could not “strangle” her opponent.

It was not possible to fix the grip on the neck, and the neck-crank attempt was unsuccessful due to lack of time.

The Mexican endured and avoided an early defeat.

In the course of the third segment, the impression was that the Russian woman spent too much effort on the choke attempt.

She slowed down and began not to keep up with the Mexican, who stubbornly walked forward.

She did not offer anything interesting - completely standard deuces from the jab and direct.

But if before that Mokhnatkina answered them with counter punches, now she began to experience problems with timing, being late for a split second.

Once in a difficult situation, she began to recklessly throw herself at her feet, but Abigail easily blocked unprepared takedowns.

And in the end, she completely unleashed a series of blows on Marina.

In the third five-minute period, Montes completely interrupted her opponent (52:35) and revived the intrigue in the confrontation.

It was logical to assume that the judges would give Mokhnatkina the second round, and Montes the final one, as a result of which the outcome of the fight would depend on the assessment of the first segment.

It turned out to be quite equal, although the Russian woman had a slight advantage.

But the jury's verdict turned out to be rather ambiguous, and it's not about the decision to recognize Marina as the winner.

The first two referees did not give a single five-minute time to the Mexican, while the third one counted exactly the opposite - 30:27.

Also, two other Russians fought for a place in the top four, and with each other.

On the eve of PFL 6, Magomed Magomedkerimov and Magomed Umalatov did not have a single point in their assets and were forced not only to take over their rivals, but also to do it as quickly as possible.

Indeed, after them, the current welterweight Grand Prix winner Ray Cooper-third and Sadibu Si, who had three points in his asset, entered the cage.

And he won them in a fight with Aleksakhin.

And Umalatov coped with his task 100%.

The duel with Jarrah Hussein Al-Silavi seemed to be a difficult test, but lasted just over three and a half minutes.

After a long reconnaissance, the Jordanian perked up a little and even touched the Russian, but received a tough answer.

The former Eagle FC champion rushed forward and got the enemy first with a left and then a right hook, which turned out to be crushing.

Magomed won by knockout in the first round and earned six points at once, simultaneously extending the unbeaten streak to 12 fights.

Magomedkerimov, on the other hand, had a difficult fight with Dilano Taylor.

Largely because he learned the name of the opponent only a day before the show.

Initially, the current Grand Prix finalist was supposed to fight Joao Zeferino, but their duel fell through for the third time.

As a result, the Russian had to urgently rebuild.

And this is in a situation where the ticket to the playoffs depends on the result.

Magomedkerimov spent more than half of the round on adapting to Taylor, and in the end he turned on his signature fight.

He laid the opponent on the canvas twice, and the second takedown was especially impressive.

Magomed performed a judo sweep and almost immediately made his way into the full mount.

At the same time, he did not limit himself to the usual control on the ground, but bombarded the opponent with powerful blows from above.

It seemed that in the second round Magomedkerimov would torture Taylor on the ground, but it was not wrestling skills that brought him success.

Starting from the middle of the segment, he began to interrupt the opponent in the stance and over and over again to catch on the oncoming movement.

The start of the rout was laid by the right straight, and on the third minute, a uniform beating began in the cage.

Magomed pinned Dilano at the net and began to drive one blow after another.

And if the knee in the jump did not reach the goal, then one right one fell exactly in the jaw.

The American staggered, missed a few more hits, after which the referee intervened.

Magomedkerimov won his 30th career victory and the first by knockout since October 2018.

Then it also took him just over two and a half rounds to send Bojan Velikovic to the floor.

It is all the more offensive that even five points were not enough for him to reach the semi-finals.

In the standings, he became fifth, losing not only to Umalatov, but also to Rory McDonald, Sadib Si and Carlos Leal.

At the same time, in the case of the latter, Aleksakhin did a disservice.

Due to his refusal, the Brazilian received bonus three points, which gave him a total of six.

Thus, the upcoming playoffs risk becoming the first in which none of his former victors will take part.

Like Magomedkerimov, Cooper finished third with five points and was left out of the competition.

And the American should be even more offensive.

Before the previous fight, he failed the weigh-in and received a penalty point, so even a knockout victory at the 23rd second did not help him to catch up with the leaders.

Now both can only hope that one of the semi-finalists will be injured or will not be able to speak for other reasons.

In this case, they may well come on as a substitute and confirm the title of the strongest fighters in the category up to 77.1 kilograms of promotion.