In her first match in the 2023 ProFighting League, the reigning 2022 lightweight champion Larissa Pacheco defeated former Bellator featherweight champion Julia Budd by getting a higher score than her on all three judges’ cards: 30-27, 29-28 and 30-27.
Friday night’s PFL 2 card at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas showcased a featherweight headliner between No. 3 fighter, Pacheco and Marina Mokhnatkina plus Amber Leibrock who had earlier won their fights.
Budd did her best to try and win in the second and third rounds. She got Pacheco with a powerful right-hand punch at the start of round two, but Pacheco punched back hard during the rest of the fight. Budd had wanted to gain points by taking Pacheco down, but it didn’t work out because Pacheco turned the tables on her many times instead. At the last moments of their fight, Pacheco managed to land lots of quick punches – which made an impression on the judges watching them fight.
Pacheco is smaller in size and yet, she was great at grappling which gave her an edge in the first and third round as she tried to get an armbar after getting free from Budd’s control. This win was even more special for her because it came following a massive upset against two-time champion Kayla Harrison.
On the other hand, Budd now has a 1-3 record in PFL where she signed up after losing her title against Cris Cyborg, ending her reign at the top position of that division.
Bruno Cappelozza got revenge for his loss in Season 4. He faced Matheus Scheffel again in Season 5 and beat him 2:15 into the first round with a big right hand punch. This win gave him six points and the lead in the heavyweight standings. After this victory, Cappelozza was back to his winning ways after losing to Scheffel before.
Scheffel tried his best when fighting with Cappelozza, but unfortunately wasn’t able to come out successful in the end. Cappelozza made it clear that Scheffel had a slim chance of winning at this season’s tournament.
Meanwhile, Olena Kolesnyk pulled off an unexpected victory against Aspen Ladd. She was ahead on two judges’ scorecards after just a few rounds and ended up emerging victorious.
At first, things looked like Ladd was winning after three rounds of fighting. One judge even thought it was a tie. But the other two judges gave Kolesnyk the victory and so Ladd had to start from the beginning again after her very first win against Bellator champion Julia Budd.
Kolesnyk had just shaved her head to make the weight requirement. During her fight with Ladd, she was usually more successful and managed to throw them on the mat once with a move called a “whizzer and hip toss” in the second round. Because of this, she got two points in the regular-season standings for featherweight rank number four.
Biaggio Ali Walsh loves using his right hand to punch hard during fights. He did this well when he faced Figueroa.
Muhammad Ali’s grandson won his third amateur fight. During the match, he stopped the opponent from taking him down and then hit them really hard with his right hand. The referee had to stop it because the other fighter was in too much pain from the hits.
Afterwards, he said that he was a little nervous during his main card performance, but so far all is going as planned for him and his development according to what the PFL (Professional Fighters League) wants for him.
The PFL 2 results were: Larissa Pacheco beat Julia Budd by getting all three judges’ votes (30-27, 29-28, and 30-27).
Bruno Cappelozza won his fight against Matheus Scheffel by punches in the first round – it took 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Olena Kolesnyk won her fight with Aspen Ladd, but the judges were divided: they scored the match 28-28, 29-28 and 29-28. Biaggio Ali Walsh beat Isaiah Figueroa using a punch in the 1st round and it took only 1 minute and 42 seconds. Rizvan Kuniev won against Renan Ferreira unanimously – 30-27,29-28 and 29-28. Maurice Greene defeated Marcelo Nunes with strikes during round 2 which lasted for 1 minute 20 seconds. Finally, Danilo Marques was declared victorious over Yorgan De Castro after all three judges scored him 30-27,30-27 and 29-28 respectively.
Amber Leibrock knocked out Martina Jindrova with a head kick in Round 1 at 2:19.
Evelyn Martins beat Karolina Sobek in a judges’ decision, where all three judges scored the same – 29-28.
Marina Mokhnatkina won against Yoko Higashi through technical knockout as she used ground and pound to finish at Round 2, 1:29.
