Few expected to see newcomer Mitch McKee come into the PFL and get the better of former Bellator champ Sergio Pettis at PFL Chicago.
The undefeated McKee, a former LFA champ, did not get the memo. The Kill Cliff FC fighter started strong, relying on his wrestling to get Pettis down in the opening round, eventually getting to the back and raining down ground n’ pound.
Wrestling was the story again in round two, and while Pettis showed plenty of skill and dexterity of his back, he simply couldn’t find a way to get his offense going in more than fits and starts. In the third, it was McKee all over Pettis, getting him belly down, flattening him out, and dropping lefts and rights as Pettis covered up. Pettis was able to survive the round, but lost the war overall, or the fight anyhow. The #1-ranked bantamweight fell to the unranked newcomer by unanimous decision.
A similar fate met #2-ranked Raufeon Stots in the PFL Chicago main event. Paired up with the unbeaten Renat Khavalov, a prodigy of Khabib Nurmagomedov, Stots had a rough night at the office. Like Pettis, he went the distance, like Pettis, he dropped a unanimous decision.
The wins, and who earned them, puts the PFL’s bantamweight division in an interesting spot. Marcirley Alves, who won the PFL bantamweight World Tournament last year, is soon to take on Naoki Inoue in a crossover fight with RIZIN. The PFL has no sitting bantamweight champ, with the title vacant, and any of McKee, Khavalov, and perhaps the winner of Alves vs. Inoue could be in play.