Brendan Loughnane is once again on the doorstep of $1 million.
The 2022 PFL champion advanced to 2024’s featherweight finals with a grueling three-round win over Kai Kamaka III on Friday in the main event of PFL 9, which took place at The Anthem in Washington, D.C.
Loughnane (30-5), the No. 1 featherweight seed after this year’s regular season, had No. 4 seed Kamaka (14-6-1) on the ropes in the opening round, hurting the UFC veteran with a spinning back kick to the body then dropping him with a furious salvo of punches and clinch knees. While Kamaka survived to be saved by the bell, then rebounded to mount a competitive final 10 minutes — repeatedly countering Loughnane’s offense and creating car crashes in their exchanges — Loughnane still found enough success with his long jabs and spinning attacks to take a well-earned split decision via 29-28, 28-29, and 30-27 scores.
Standing across Loughnane in the $1 million featherweight finals is No. 3 seed Timur Khizriev (17-0), a Bellator import who continued his dominance over PFL with a split decision win over 2023 finalist and No. 2 seed Gabriel Braga (14-2).
In a competitive but ultimately clear bout, Khizriev consistently beat Braga to the punch and outstruck the Brazilian over 15 minutes to earn a pair of 30-27 scores from judges Bryan Miner and Rick Winter, while controversial judge David Tirelli turned in a puzzling 29-28 Braga scorecard. Notably, Tirelli was also the dissenting judge in Loughnane vs. Kamaka.
In the night’s co-main event, No. 2 welterweight seed Magomed Umalatov (17-0) fended off a flurry of late submission attempts to outpoint replacement opponent Neiman Gracie (13-6) and advance to the PFL finals. Umalatov bloodied Gracie and repeatedly peppered the one-time Bellator title challenger with right hands, hard left hooks, and piston-fast one-twos to gain an early lead, before Gracie rallied in the third round with a swarm of submission attempts off his back, including rarely seen gogoplatas and calf slicers.
In the end, the judges scored the bout 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28 in Umalatov’s favor, extending the Russian’s PFL hot streak to eight straight wins in eight appearances.
Meeting Umalatov in the $1 million welterweight finals is his countryman, No. 1 seed Shamil Musaev (19-0-1), after the undefeated Russian dominated No. 4 seed Murad Ramazanov (12-2) for a second time this season to punch his ticket through the bracket.
Less than two months after knocking out Ramazanov in a regular season bout, Musaev once again outclassed his foe, using a combination of suffocating pace and relentless pressure in both the standup and grappling realms to earn a one-sided unanimous decision with 29-28, 30-27, and 30-27 scores.
The main card bouts capped off a nine-fight event that ended with seven straight decisions.
