Kelly who got mauled.
Taking over for Paul Hughes
in the
PFL Belfast main attraction, Kelly (9-1, 2-1 PFL) put his
flawless record on the line in a dangerous lightweight outing
against Jay-Jay
Wilson (12-2, 2-1 PFL). Kelly may not have closed as the
betting favorite, as lines moved quite closely coming into fight
night, but he was the favored man at the SSE Arena in Belfast,
Northern Ireland. Fans were on the side of the “Moville Mauler”
from the get-go, even with Wilson attempting to win the crowd over
with his walkout of Neil Diamond’s singalong “Sweet Caroline.” All
that proved for naught when Wilson
smashed Kelly in the ribs with his shin and knocked Kelly into
unconscious with his left hand.
The main event for Professional Fighters League’s second trip to
Northern Ireland did not end quite as successfully for local
audiences as their first, when the aforementioned Hughes smashed
his foe in 42 seconds. Wilson proudly served as the spoiler by
coming out of his corner guns blazing, unafraid of the lossless foe
standing across the cage from him. “The Maori Kid” established his
range and speed early, putting combinations behind his jabs as he
flowed into his preferred distance.
After tripling up on his jab, Wilson swayed the counters and
delivered a clean body kick that ripped into Kelly’s abdomen. A
split-second later, Wilson fired off a perfect left hook that put
the Irishman down on the mat. The Kiwi jackhammered down a pair of
sleep-inducing hammerfists that shut Kelly’s lights completely
while also stripping away his flawless record. Referee “Big” John
McCarthy sprung into action to separate the two a cool 37 seconds
into the match.
Donned with a cape of feathers, Wilson called his shot directly:
Alfie
Davis in June at the rumored PFL San Diego event.
While betting odds were on the wider side in favor of the former
Cage Warriors champ, Rhys McKee
(15-7-1, 1-0 PFL) had his hands more than full with fellow PFL
newcomer Alex Lohore
(26-12, 0-1 PFL). The action appeared tied going into the third
round, only for McKee to show he had more left in the tank as he
engaged his grappling to shut down Lohore in the later stages of
the bout.
The two men collided at 176 pounds due to the late nature of it
coming together, and that weighed in the advantage of the Irishman,
who ended up picking up a workmanlike decision. It took a big right
hand behind the ear from “Skeletor” to put Lohore down, where McKee
proceeded to wrap up and threaten Lohore with chokes and thwart off
scrambles until time expired.
McKee, who jumped on top of the cage after the final bell to
celebrate his expected win, secured the first decision victory of
his career thanks to a trio of 30-27 scores on his side.
By the skin of his teeth, Dovletdzhan
Yagshimuradov (26-8-1, 5-1 PFL) held on to win the narrow
decision over hard-charging PFL debutant Tyson Pedro
(10-6, 1-0 PFL). The light heavyweight duel appeared fairly
straightforward as Yagshimuradov controlled the cage for the first
10 minutes thanks to his diverse striking arsenal. Whether
threatening with a spinning strike of some variety, a standing hook
kick or any number of unorthodox attacks for a 205er, the Turkmen
kept Pedro guessing for two rounds.
It was not until Round 3 when Pedro sprung to life, in hopes of
keeping his 100% finish rate intact as he inflicted damage to and
nearly stopped the 2024 light heavyweight tourney victor a few
times. Yagshimuradov survived the onslaught—and Pedro may have
prematurely emptied his gas tank—and put the Aussie on his back to
inflict punishment with ground-and-pound as time expired.
When the dust settled, Yagshimuradov convinced all three judges
that his work in the first two rounds proved insurmountable,
awarding him the unanimous decision nod.
Eoin
Sheridan remains unbeaten atop action-packed prelim slate
A competitive welterweight tilt capped off the violent prelims,
where the sole American on the billing squared off against a local
undefeated favorite. Chris Mixan
(7-3, 3-1 PFL), repping both his home state of Florida as well as
Ukraine, battled 6-foot-5 gangly striker Eoin
Sheridan (5-0, 3-0 PFL) for three tough rounds. Each man had
something to celebrate at fight’s end, with Mixan’s pocket boxing
and late ground control stacked up against Sheridan’s powerful low
kicks.
It’s been a thriller so far…
ROUND 3 STARTS NOW!#PFLBelfast
| Thursday , April 16th | SSE Arena | Belfast, N. Ireland | LIVE
NOW on ESPN App | Main Card 7PM EST | ESPN 2 pic.twitter.com/3OlOCCskBD— PFL (@PFLMMA)
April 16, 2026
The first two rounds proved to be quite close, but it was Sheridan
who did enough to earn the nod on all three judges’ tallies of
29-28. Sheridan blunted the shorter man with his debilitating leg
kicks, keeping it close in the first and knocking Mixan to his seat
a few times in the second round. While Mixan controlled much of the
final frame by taking the tall man down and working him over, it
was not enough to get his hand raised.
Ireland’s Sheridan notched his fifth win as a professional, calling
for another match against ranked opposition in his next time
out.
In earlier preliminary action, Caolan
Loughran (11-3, 1-1 PFL) easily handled Alan
Philpott (21-18, 1 NC; 0-2 PFL) with a
neck crank 71 seconds into their bout, recording his
first PFL victory in a featherweight pairing; Omran
Chaaban (10-1, 1-0 PFL) dispatched fellow 170er Chequina
Noso Pedro (10-5, 1-2 PFL) with a
flush knee to the jaw and finished the job with his
fists to procure the TKO stoppage at 4:16 of Round 2; Liverpool’s
Dean
Garnett (15-4-1, 3-2 PFL) flatlined a then-undefeated Ciaran
Clarke (10-1, 0-1 PFL) with a
thunderous spinning back elbow and follow-up punches,
rendering the Irish bantamweight unconscious 1:52 into the opening
period; Pedro
Carvalho (15-10, 1-2 PFL) put himself on his first win streak
since 2019 by taking everything Sergio
Cossio (19-12-1, 1-3 PFL) threw at him and giving it back in
spades in their 165 catchweight bout, with “The Game” winning two
of three rounds on all three cards to pick up the unanimous
verdict; welterweight newcomer David
Martinez (17-6, 1-0 PFL) fought through adversity to tap
Giannis
Bachar (9-4, 0-2 PFL)
53 seconds into the second stanza with a rear-naked
choke; courtesy of a pair of knockdowns, Sean Gauci
(11-1, 1-0 PFL) outdueled a frenetic Liam
Gittins (13-6, 1 NC; 0-2 PFL) in a high-intensity, high-volume
brawl to pick up two 30-27 scores and one of 29-28 all in his
favor; Eoghan
Masoliver (2-0, 1-0 PFL)
snatched up a standing rear-naked choke just 1:55 into
the opening frame to hand fellow bantamweight neophyte Shane
Mullen (1-1, 0-1 PFL) his first pro defeat; 2024 PFL flyweight
tourney entrant Chelsea
Hackett (5-3-1, 2-2 PFL) picked up her first win in years by
dropping and ultimately outpointing Andrea
Vazquez (8-3, 0-1 PFL) with three matching scores of 30-27 in
the event opener.