Anthony Pettis, the primary attraction of Friday evening’s season-opening occasion within the Skilled Preventing League, is named “Showtime.” However Clay Collard stole the present.
Collard knocked down Pettis, the previous UFC light-weight champion, twice in Spherical 2 and survived a head-kick knockdown within the third spherical to take a unanimous-decision victory within the PFL’s headline combat at Ocean On line casino Resort in Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey.
In a gathering of two fighters making their PFL debuts, Collard was the aggressor all through, transferring ahead with an unrelenting assault of punches and kicks. Pettis, who was listed as a -588 favourite by Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill, defended properly for the primary spherical and into the second, however two minutes into the center spherical Collard damage him with a physique punch, then dropped him with a left to the pinnacle. Pettis bought again to his ft and escaped alongside the cage, however Collard went proper again to pursuing him and once more damage Pettis with a physique punch earlier than dropping him a second time.
Pettis, a 34-year-old from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, appeared badly damage, and regardless that Collard couldn’t end him, an upset was brewing. Halfway via Spherical three, nonetheless, the flashy, artistic Pettis wobbled Collard with a head kick and floored him with a knee. Out of the blue, it appeared that he would possibly get the end. However Collard survived to the horn, then raised his arms triumphantly, anticipating the choice.
Two judges scored the bout 29-27, and the opposite had it 29-28, all in Collard’s favor.
This was not the primary time Collard (19-Eight-1) has pulled off a shock. The 28-year-old, who fights out of Las Vegas, is a longtime MMA fighter who took up professional boxing a couple of years in the past. In 2020 he gained 5 in a row within the boxing ring.
Pettis (24-11), who reigned within the UFC from 2013 to 2015, was not the evening’s solely upset sufferer.
A pair of two-time defending PFL season champions additionally misplaced their fights. Lance Palmer, who gained the $1 million featherweight prize in each 2018 and 2019, noticed his 11-fight profitable streak finish in a lopsided resolution loss to previous collegiate wrestling rival Bubba Jenkins. And Natan Schulte, the light-weight champion in each of these years, dropped a a lot nearer resolution to Marcin Held.