PFL 4: 2023 Regular Season: Overtime Elite Arena; Atlanta, Georgia
It’s the reason that fights happen, and not just judge things on paper. Every once in a while you get an upset that puts the sport on its ear. And thanks to a solid gameplan by Jesus Pinedo there will be a different fighter this year raising the PFL featherweight strap.
Not only did he physically take out last season’s defending champion Brendan Loughnane, but he also dropped Chris Wade out of the playoffs. “El Mudo” needed a finish in under 4:14 to pull this off. And it took him only 94-seconds of the opening round to do it. And it ended Loughnane’s five-fight win streak where he looked like a world beater. It was also the first-time he’s ever been finished.
Right off the bat the 33-year old Englishman was switching stances, stalking the young Peruvian. Pinedo started to pressure forward and landed a right knee coming out of a clinch that also seemed to have his foot hit Loughnane’s liver. As he crumbled to the canvas, Pinedo went down after him landing hammer fists till referee KEITH PETERSON jumped in to stop the action.
After the fight Pinedo said that the gameplan all along was to: “hunt him down and to be aggressive”.
There Will Be A New Millionaire For The PFL
With the quick finish the featherweight playoffs look like this:
1- Bubba Jenkins VS 4- Pinedo and 2-Gabriel Braga VS 3- Movlid Khaybulaev
Khaybulaev won the belt in 2021, while Jenkins lost in the finals to Loughnane last season. And looking at the very early odds, those two are favorites to be there in the end. However, this fight proved, what it says on paper doesn’t always happen.
Pinedo is huge for the division. And if Jenkins can’t find a way to get inside or control his aggression he too may find his way out. Should the action head to the ground, although that is where Jenkins lives, the height of Pinedo will play a factor as well.
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