Clay Collard Outduels Shane Burgos, Punches Ticket to First PFL Championship

Clay Collard had to earn his first Professional Fighters League Championship appearance the hard way.

In a surefire “Fight of the Year” contender, Collard held off a hard-charging Shane Burgos to win a closely-contesting unanimous decision triumph in the PFL 9 headliner at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday night. All three cageside judges submitted tallies in favor of Collard: 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28. The UFC veteran will advance to face defending PFL champion Olivier Aubin-Mercier in the lightweight final on Nov. 24.

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Collard (24-10, 6-2 PFL) set the tone early, utilizing his trademark volume punching to the head and body to rack up a lead on the scorecards. He backed Burgos (16-5, 1-2 PFL) into the fence with a left hook-right hand combination in the opening stanza and sat his foe down with a left hook in Round 2. The Team Tiger Schulmann product was undeterred, however. He targeted Collard with inside low kicks throughout the contest, a strategy that hindered his opponent’s movement significantly down the stretch. That work, combined with left hooks to the body and straight right hands, allowed Burgos to make a strong statement in Round 3. Despite his limited movement, Collard maintained his resolve, and both combatants traded willingly in the pocket until the final horn. Ultimately, Collard’s early push proved to be too much for Burgos to overcome.

Meanwhile, Aubin-Mercier punched his ticket to a second consecutive PFL final with a technical knockout victory against Bruno Miranda in their lightweight semifinal. “The Canadian Gangster” ended the contest with a salvo of punches and hammerfists from mount at the 4:41 mark of Round 2. Miranda sees a seven-bout winning streak snapped in defeat.

After a competitive opening stanza, Aubin-Mercier (20-5, 9-0 PFL) made his move. He dropped Miranda (16-4, 2-1 PFL) with a left hand early in the period and then quickly assumed top position. From there, the UFC veteran methodically hammered away with ground-and-pound while twice advancing to full mount. On the second occasion, Aubin-Mercier increased the intensity of his output, forcing referee Dan Miragliotta to step in on Miranda’s behalf.

Sadibou Sy will get his chance to repeat as PFL welterweight king, as he edged Carlos Leal Miranda via split decision in their semifinal matchup. Two judges scored it 29-28 for Sy (16-6-2, 10-4-2 PFL), while a third saw it 29-28 in favor of Leal (19-5, 3-2 PFL). The Brazilian missed weight ahead of the bout, so he either needed to win by finish or to bank all three rounds on the scorecards to keep his title hopes alive. Instead, Sy will advance to face Magomed Magomedkerimov at the PFL Championships.

Sy was at his best in Round 1, where he landed a variety of kicks, countered effectively with punches and punished Leal with knees in close quarters. The bout became more of a grinding affair over the course of the final 10 minutes. Leal kept Sy on his back for more than three minutes in the second frame following a successful takedown and spent a large portion of the final stanza pressing his foe into the cage. Though he struggled to create space, Sy still landed the more meaningful offense at range — and that proved to be the difference.

It was more difficult than expected, but Magomedkerimov advanced to the welterweight finals with a hard-fought unanimous decision triumph over Solomon Renfro. All three judges scored the bout 30-27 in favor of the American Top Team representative, who will make his third appearance in a PFL Championship.

Magomedkerimov (33-6, 15-1 PFL) did some of his best work in the opening stanza, when he took Renfro (11-4, 1-1 PFL) down a little more than halfway through the frame and methodically landed ground-and-pound from top position. That would be the only time the Dagestani could keep his opponent down for any significant period of time, however, as Renfro demonstrated stout takedown defense and scrambling ability for much of the bout.

Even then, Magomedkerimov controlled much of the action at range behind disciplined boxing and the occasional lead leg head kick. Renfro, a late replacement for Magomed Umalatov, forced the action in the final stanza — even landing a high-amplitude takedown with less than a minute remaining — but it wasn’t enough to get the nod on the scorecards.

In other action: Biaggio Ali Walsh scored a second-round technical knockout 2:23 into Round 2 against Ed Davis in an amateur lightweight contest; Alexei Pergande (4-0, 3-0 PFL) cruised to a unanimous verdict (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) over Shawn Stefanelli (4-3, 0-1 PFL) at featherweight; Mostafa Rashed Nada (8-3, 1-0 PFL) stopped Korey Kuppe (11-6, 0-1 PFL) with ground-and-pound 1:55 into the opening stanza of their middleweight clash; Michelle Montague (4-0, 1-0 PFL) submitted Abigail Montes (4-3, 2-3 PFL) with a rear-naked choke at the 3:38 mark of Round 2 in a women’s featherweight tilt; Abdullah Al-Qahtani (7-1, 2-0 PFL) cruised to a lopsided unanimous decision triumph (30-26, 30-26, 30-25) against David Zelner (4-3, 0-1 PFL) at featherweight; and John Caldone (5-1, 1-0 PFL) dispatched Nathaniel Grimard (4-3, 0-1 PFL) with punches 2:32 into the opening stanza at featherweight.