England’s Brendan Loughnane secured the number one seed for the PFL’s 2024 featherweight playoffs thanks to a second-round finish of Justin Gonzales at PFL 6 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Loughnane, who captured the 2022 PFL featherweight title, but suffered a shock exit to Jesus Pinedo in the 2023 season, followed up his first-round finish of Pedro Carvalho with a second-round stoppage of Gonzales, with a big knee to his opponent’s forehead proving to be the decisive, fight-winning strike.
That knee, which connected clean to his opponent’s brow, left Gonzalez with a huge gash on his forehead. And, after having the cut inspected by the cageside physician, the fight was waved off, with Loughnane receiving an extra five points to his regular season tally and taking him to 11 for the season, and top spot in the featherweight table.
Second place went to Brazil’s Gabriel Braga, who stopped Bubba Jenkins via second-round TKO after “Bad Man” sustained an arm injury in their featherweight contest.
The other two featherweight qualifiers are Timur Khizriev and Kai Kamaka, after both men picked up unanimous decision victories over Enrique Barzola and Carvalho, respectively.
The welterweight division was also on show in Sioux Falls, with Shamil Musaev locking in top spot in the 170-pound table with a second-round finish of Murad Ramazanov., who he’ll face again in the welterweight playoffs.
The other welterweight semi-final will see Magomed Umalatov take on Don Madge. Umalatov vaulted himself to second in the standings with a first-round finish of Brennan Ward, who subsequently announced his retirement from the sport. Madge, meanwhile, was left to sweat a little after losing a decision to Neiman Gracie earlier in the night. But, fortunately for “The Magic Man,” the results panned out in his favour to leave him as the third seed heading into the playoffs.
PFL 6: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Brendan Loughnane def. Justin Gonzales via TKO (doctor stoppage) – Round 2, 3:34
- Logan Storley def. Luca Poclit via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Magomed Umalatov def. Brennan Ward via submission (anaconda choke) – Round 1, 3:43
- Gabriel Braga def. Bubba Jenkins via TKO (injury) – Round 2, 1:48
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Lorenz Larkin def. Alan Dominguez via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:46
- Shamil Musaev def. Murad Ramazanov via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:51
- Kai Kamaka def. Pedro Carvalho via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Andrey Koreshkov def. Goiti Yamauchi via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
- Timur Khizriev def. Enrique Barzola via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Neiman Gracie def. Don Madge via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Tyler Diamond def. Brett Johns via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
PFL Playoffs: Welterweight and featherweight semi-finals
- Shamil Musaev (1) vs. Murad Ramazanov (4) – welterweight semi-final
- Magomed Umalatov (2) vs. Don Madge (3) – welterweight semi-final
- Brendan Loughnane (1) vs. Kai Kamaka (4) – featherweight semi-final
- Gabriel Braga (2) vs. Timur Khizriev (3) – featherweight semi-final
