This past Friday night, the PFL had their first playoff event in Nashville where four fighters punched their ticket to the championship event later this year. The heavyweights and women’s flyweight divisions took center stage on Friday night. The main event of the evening featured the big boys as Denis Goltsov (35-8) took on Tim Johnson (18-10).
Goltsov has been around the PFL for a long time and has had an incredible run with the promotion. However, he’s ultimately failed to capture gold, but last year he got closer than ever being the runner-up to Renan Ferreira. He’ll get another chance at the gold this year as he ran through Tim Johnson by stopping him in the first round.
The other heavyweight semifinal matchup featured Linton Vassell (25-10) and Oleg Popov (19-1). This fight went to the judges scorecards but all three were in agreement as Popov took the decision and earned his spot in the PFL World Championships. It’ll be an all Russian heavyweight title fight with Goltsov and Popov.
PFL Playoffs
The women’s flyweight division also saw it’s first championship bout finalized with two semifinal matchups on Friday night. In the featured bout, Dakota Ditcheva (13-0) took on Jena Bishop (7-2). Ditcheva has become a star and she’s incredibly talented. She’s ran through all of her competition inside the PFL Smart Cage and Friday night was no different.
Ditcheva used a nasty combination of big knees and punches to finish Bishop in the first round. She’s now 3-0 on the season with three first round finishes. That said, she’ll get the toughest test of her professional career in the world championships later this year.
In the first semifinal matchup, Bellator flyweight champ Liz Carmouche (22-8) took on former UFC title challenger Taila Santos (22-3). It was a relatively close fight, but Santos won a decision earning her spot in the finals against Ditcheva. That should be a helluva matchup. While Santos earned her spot in the PFL World Championships, Carmouche lost her first fight since leaving the UFC which snapped a nine-fight win streak.