';
FB TW IG YT VK TH
Search
MORE FROM OUR CHANNELS

Wrestlezone
FB TW IG YT VK TH

Jared Rosholt Edges Satoshi Ishii to Earn Spot in PFL Heavyweight Playoffs


Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the PFL and UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Jared Rosholt badly needed a win in order to squeak into the Professional Fighters League's heavyweight playoff bracket and in the main event of PFL 6: 2019 Regular Season on Thursday night, and he did just that inside Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City.

Advertisement
Rosholt (18-7) used a better overall grappling game behind four total takedowns to nullify much of what Satoshi Ishii (22-9-1) tried over three rounds. Ishii, an Olympic gold medal-winning judoka from Japan, looked fatigued early in the matchup and never got anything going offensively. Rosholt landed dozens of short punches in the clinch and did enough to win a unanimous decision, which he did via tallies of 29-28 (twice) and 30-27. The win gave Rosholt three points and a spot in the post-season; Ishii was already in.

The last time Vinny Magalhaes fought Rakim Cleveland, he landed a sensational flying triangle kimura to end things. Tonight, it wasn't quite as impressive, but he still subbed Cleveland in the first round in the ESPN+ co-feature. Magalhaes (19-11, 1 NC) took "The Boogeyman" down and quickly moved to top control, where he began with a kimura, but quickly transitioned to a textbook armbar. Cleveland (19-13-1) had no choice but to tap out, ending the fight at 1:56. The win gave "Pezao" six points and a spot in the light heavyweight playoffs.

In a Russian matchup that could have gone either way, it was Viktor Nemkov who prevailed by the thinnest of margins. After foe Rashid Yusupov (11-2) had early control with a better overall striking game, Nemkov turned the tables by rocking Yusupov with a hard right to the head. The third saw both men land clean punches and kicks, but Nemkov (28-7) did just a bit more and won via split decision. While one judge had it 29-28 for Yusupov, the other two turned in the same score for Nemkov, who earned three points and landed in the light heavyweight playoffs.

After fending off and eventually escaping a tight arm-in guillotine in the first round, Ali Isaev turned the tables on Samoa's Carl Seumanutafa (12-11) and nearly stopped him. Isaev (6-0) slammed several clean punches onto his foe's head and then locked in an arm-triangle choke, but "Badwater" escaped. From there, the Russian slowed down the action and controlled the pace, mostly on the ground after takedowns. In the end, Isaev won a unanimous decision via tallies of 30-27 (twice) and 29-28 to earn three points and a spot in the heavyweight playoffs.

Maxim Grishin improved to 30-7-1 with a 48-second destruction of Mikhail Mokhnatkin (11-5-2) in a Russia-vs.-Russia matchup. "Maximus" detonated a right-handed bomb square on Mokhnatkin's jaw, sending him flat onto his back and prompting referee Bill Bookwalter to end it. The knockout handed Grishin six points and a spot in the light heavyweight playoffs.

Muhammed DeReese was getting bested on the feet for the first two minutes of his fight with Valdrin Istrefi (13-4), but all it took was one punch to change things. "Mo Muscle" drilled his Liechtensteiner adversary with a straight right hand to the face, dropping him. From there, DeReese (8-1) pounced and unloaded several follow-up punches until Bookwalter pulled him off, ending the fight at 2:06 of the first. The knockout gave DeReese six points and a spot in the heavyweight playoff bracket.

Umar Nurmagomedov (11-0) was dominant against Sidemar Honorio in a special bantamweight attraction, winning a lopsided unanimous decision. The Russian landed dozens of kicks to the head and body and whenever the fight was taken to the canvas, Nurmagomedov easily controlled the pace. Honorio (13-7) never got things going and Nurmagomedov won via tallies of 30-27 across the board.

In the featured preliminary bout that was televised on ESPN2, it was Brazil's Francimar Barroso (24-7) who out-pointed fellow heavyweight Ben Edwards (3-1) over three rounds. Barroso controlled the distance throughout and won a rather easy unanimous decision to earn three points, which clinched him a spot in the heavyweight playoffs.

Denis Goltsov (24-5) scored a slick submission via Ezekiel choke in the second round against Kelvin Tiller (11-3). "The Russian Bogatyr" nabbed the win at the 3:40 mark of the frame, earning five points and the No. 1 overall seed in the heavyweight playoffs.

Emiliano Sordi blew apart Bozigit Ataev (20-4) with a blitzkrieg of punches, ending things in just 83 seconds. The first-round decimation allowed Sordi (19-8) to not only earn six points, but also the No. 1 seed in the light heavyweight bracket of the PFL playoffs.

Also in preliminary action, Alex Nicholson (14-8) took out Ezekiel Tuinei-Wily (3-3) with punches at 3:07 of the first to scoop up six points and a spot in the heavyweight playoffs. Lastly, Jordan Johnson (11-1) defeated Sigi Pesaleli (3-2) via unanimous decision (30-27 x3) to earn three points and a spot in the light heavyweight division. Advertisement
Related Articles

Subscribe to our Newsletter

* indicates required
Latest News

POLL

Will either Jon Jones or Conor McGregor fight at the proposed UFC White House event in 2026?

FIGHT FINDER


FIGHTER OF THE WEEK

Johnny Eblen

TOP TRENDING FIGHTERS


+ FIND MORE