Sean O'Connell joined the inaugural PFL light heavyweight after retiring from the sport. A few months later, he has officially hung up his gloves, except now he has the organization’s 205-pound title and a $1 million check.
The light heavyweight playoff final was part of today’s PFL 11 event at Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York. It aired on NBCSN. O’Connell (23-10) earned the victory after the corner of opponent Vinny Magalhaes (18-10) called off when he couldn’t answer the bell for the fourth round.
The opening round was an absolute barnburner. O’Connell wasted no time throwing his hands in Magalhaes’ direction, who wanted little to do with the stand up game. Magalhaes would pull guard, and oddly O’Connell was content to be there with him. Magalhaes threatened with leg submission attacks, but O’Connell survived the initial storm. He would engage in grappling situations, but it would be a poor idea with Magalhaes taking his back and working for chokes. O’Connell, however, survived through it, got back to his feet and was able to do more striking toward the end of the round.
Magalhaes was noticeably faded going into the second round. He was breathing heavy and every takedown attempt he pushed in Magalhaes’ direction had less and less on it. Magalhaes rolled for more submissions, but O’Connell kept the perfect distance to stay away from danger picked his shots intelligently. O’Connell played Magalhaes’ game a little bit by stepping in and allowing the grappling ace to get ahold of hi, but O’Connell felt comfortable enough to avoid danger and inflict more damage of his own for the final several minutes of the round.
O’Connell came out with mean intentions in the third round. He cracked Magalhaes with a series of forceful punches that put the Brazilian on ice skates. Magalhaes dropped to his back, but O’Connell wouldn’t follow him down. It was a rinse and repeat situation after that, with O’Connell landing punches on the feet before Magalhaes would duck under one and hang onto the legs out of desperation. Both men were absolutely exhausted at the midway point of the fight, and the scene of O’Connell landing, Magalhaes flopping to his back and struggling to stand up and more was the rest of the round.
Following the third frame, Magalhaes went back to his corner and informed them of an injury, which was potentially a broken right orbital bone. Magalhaes’ corner opted to pull the plug at that point, giving O’Connell the victory at the 5:00 mark of Round 3 to win the PFL light heavyweight championship and $1 million prize.
“There’s no better time to walk away,” O’Connell said during his post-fight interview with Carolyn Pierce. “In front of my friends and family in an iconic arena. I’m moving on. This is the last time you’ll see me competing, but I’m never leaving this sport.”
Up-to-the-minute PFL 11 results include:
- Sean O’Connell def. Vinny Magalhaes via TKO (corner stoppage) – Round 3, 5:00
- Kayla Harrison def. Moriel Charneski via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:39
- Natan Schulte def. Rashid Magomedov via unanimous decision (48-46, 48-46, 48-46) – to win lightweight title
- Lance Palmer def. Steven Siler via unanimous decision (50-43, 50-45, 49-46) – to win featherweight title
- Louis Taylor def. Abusupiyan Magomedov via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:33 – to win middleweight title
For complete coverage of PFL 11, check out the MMA Events section of the site.
from MMAjunkie http://bit.ly/2Rsi3Sm
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