Alexander Shabliy made his return after almost two years outside of MMA competition and while he won, it did not exactly light the imagination of PFL’s CEO on fire. PFL San Diego saw Shabliy return to fighting after a prior loss to Usman Nurmagomedov in September 2024 and Shabliy went 2-0 over Alfie Davis in his June 27th comeback bout.
Their rematch played out the same as their first encounter in so far as Alexander Shabliy secured another unanimous decision victory. This would theoretically position him well for a crack at the winner of the aforementioned Nurmagomedov PFL lightweight title defense as he takes on Archie Colgan in the coming weeks at PFL New York.
The 33-year-old curiously enough also indicated some interest in a clash with PFL San Diego victor AJ McKee and Shabliy mentioned he would move down to 145 pounds to clash with ‘The Mercenary’ in a featherweight title fight, if offered. The native of Russia put out multiple desired options during his post-fight press conference mic time. But when it was PFL CEO John Martin’s turn to address on-site reporters and respond to some of Alexander Shabliy’s desired next bouts, Martin said,
“I think we’d have to look at both of them. I mean, [Alexander] Shabliy had a really strong win today. It wasn’t terribly convincing, so I think we’ll take a look at it, but he had a good win tonight.”
Alexander Shabliy’s disclosed payout at PFL San Diego
The California State Athletic Commission is one of the few remaining commissions that discloses fighter pay after events and they continued with this pattern in the aftermath of PFL San Diego. In figures disclosed to MMA Fighting, Alexander Shabliy made $50,000 overall which includes 25 K to show and a 25 K win bonus. The remaining of the payouts for this California-based foray for the PFL reads as follows:
- A.J. McKee: $100,000, sans win bonus
- Salamat Isbulaev: $10,000 to show, $10,000 to win – $10,000 – LOST
- Liz Carmouche: $50,000 to show, $50,000 to win – $100,000 – WIN
- Viviane Araujo: $20,000 to show, $20,000 to win – $20,000 – LOST
- Alfie Davis: $20,000 to show, $20,000 to win – $20,000 – LOST
- Abraham Bably: $10,000 to show, $10,000 to win – $10,000 – LOST
- Rob Wilkinson: $20,000 to show, $20,000 to win – $40,000 – WON
- Khasan Magomedsharipov: $20,000 to show, $20,000 to win – $40,000 – WON
- Joshua Weems: $10,000 to show, $10,000 to win – $10,000 – LOST
- Ariane Da Silva: $13,000 to show, $13,000 to win – $13,000 – LOST
- Jena Bishop: $20,000 to show, $20,000 to win – $40,000 – WON
- Justin Wetzell: $10,000 to show, $10,000 to win – $10,000 – LOST
- Sarvardzhon Hamidov: $20,000 to show, $20,000 to win – $40,000 – WON
- Shannon Clark: $3,000 to show, $3,000 to win – Made $6,000 – WON
- Ilara Joanne: $10,000 to show, $10,000 to win – Made $10,000 – LOST
- Cobey Fehr: $5,000 to show, $5,000 to win – Made $10,000 – WON
- Daniel Bzdigian: $5,000 to show, $5,000 to win – Made $5,000 – LOST