| PFL 7 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for PFL 7 | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Professional Fighters League | |||
| Date | August 13, 2021 | |||
| Venue | Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood | |||
| City | Hollywood, Florida, United States | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
The PFL 7 mixed martial arts event for the 2021 season of the Professional Fighters League was held on August 13, 2021. This was the start of the playoffs for the Welterweight and Lightweight divisions. This event aired on ESPN2, with the prelims on ESPN+. [1]
Rory MacDonald and Ray Cooper III headlined the first PFL playoff card, with the Welterweight and Lightweight playoffs holding their semifinal bouts. MacDonald made his third appearance with PFL cage, going 1-1 in the regular season, with his most recent outing being a highly controversial decision loss to Gleison Tibau. He took on the former PFL champion Cooper, who was 2-0 during the regular season in 2021. [2]
The Lightweight bracket saw UFC and boxing veteran Clay Collard take on Raush Manfio while Loik Radzhabov and Alexander Martinez fought in the other lightweight semifinal. [3]
Featured additions included a lightweight contest include two-time PFL champion Natan Schulte taking on 12-time UFC veteran Olivier Aubin-Mercier, as well as planned bout with Swedish PFL vet Sadibou Sy facing 28-time UFC veteran Gleison Tibau. [2] [3]
On August 4, it was announced that João Zeferino was out of his Semi-Final match-up against Magomed Magomedkerimov, with #5 ranked Sadibou Sy taking his place. Curtis Millender (replacing Sy) was then scheduled to face Gleison Tibau. Natan Schulte was also announced to have been scratched, with Olivier Aubin-Mercier now fighting Darrell Horcher. Lastly, Nikolay Aleksakhin was removed from his bout against Brett Cooper, with Cooper now facing Tyler Hill. [4] On August 12, Millender was announced to have pulled out of the bout against Tibau, so Tibau instead faced Micah Terrill, while Magomed Umalatov faced Leandro Silva. [5]
At weigh-ins, Darrell Horcher and Leandro Silva weighed in at 159.25 and 172.5 pounds, missing weight by 3.25 and 1.5 pounds respectively. The bouts proceeded at catchweight and they were fined 20% of their purses, which went to their opponents Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Magomed Umalatov respectively. [6]
| Main Card (ESPN 2) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Welterweight | Ray Cooper III | def. | Rory MacDonald | Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Magomed Magomedkerimov | def. | Sadibou Sy | Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Raush Manfio | def. | Clay Collard | Decision (unanimous) (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Loik Radzhabov | def. | Alexander Martinez | Decision (unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Welterweight | Gleison Tibau | def. | Micah Terrill | Technical Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 1 | 2:18 | |
| Catchweight (159.25 lb) | Olivier Aubin-Mercier | def. | Darrell Horcher | Decision (unanimous) (29-28, 30-26, 29-27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Brett Cooper | def. | Tyler Hill | KO (punches) | 1 | 2:32 | |
| Catchweight (172.5 lb) | Magomed Umalatov | def. | Leandro Silva | Decision (unanimous) (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Michael Lombardo | def. | Kyron Bowen | TKO (leg kicks) | 1 | 3:42 | |
| Lightweight | Elvin Espinoza | def. | Hopeton Stewart | Technical Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 2:45 | |
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| 5 |  Sadibou Sy* | 3 | |||||||
| 4 |  Magomed Magomedkerimov | UD | |||||||
| 4 | Magomed Magomedkerimov | 3 | |||||||
| 3 |  Ray Cooper III | KO | |||||||
| 2 |  Rory MacDonald | 3 | |||||||
| 3 | Ray Cooper III | UD | |||||||
(SD) | (Split Decision) | |
(UD) | (Unanimous Decision) | |
(MD) | (Majority Decision) | |
SUB | Submission | |
(T)KO | (Technical) Knock Out | |
L | Loss |
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| 1 |  Loik Radzhabov | UD | |||||||
| 4 |  Alexander Martinez | 3 | |||||||
| 1 | Loik Radzhabov | 5 | |||||||
| 3 |  Raush Manfio | UD | |||||||
| 2 | Clay Collard | 3 | |||||||
| 3 | Raush Manfio | UD | |||||||
(SD) | (Split Decision) | |
(UD) | (Unanimous Decision) | |
(MD) | (Majority Decision) | |
SUB | Submission | |
(T)KO | (Technical) Knock Out | |
L | Loss |
Janigleison Herculano Alves, better known as Gleison Tibau is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division. A professional since 1999, he has competed for the UFC, Professional Fighters League (PFL), DEEP, and Golden Boy Promotions.
Rory MacDonald is a Canadian former mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the welterweight division of the Professional Fighters League (PFL). Prior to signing with the PFL, MacDonald competed for Bellator MMA, where he is a former Bellator Welterweight World Champion. Having been a professional competitor since 2005, MacDonald was a top contender in the UFC with an overall UFC record of 9–4, and challenged for the UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 189 in against then-champion Robbie Lawler. He is also a former King of the Cage Lightweight Champion.
Darrell Joseph Horcher is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division. A professional since 2010, he formerly competed for the UFC, Bellator and the Cage Fury Fighting Championships, where he was the Lightweight Champion.
Olivier Aubin-Mercier is a Canadian retired mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight division. Competing since 2011 to 2023, Aubin-Mercier competed for the Professional Fighters League, where he won the 2022 and 2023 PFL Lightweight Championship and as well a 12 bout stint in the UFC where he appeared on The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia.
Curtis Millender is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 2013, Millender has formerly competed in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator MMA, Professional Fighters League (PFL), and Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA).
Alexey Andreevich Kunchenko is a Russian former mixed martial artist (MMA) who competed in the welterweight division. He is a former M-1 Global welterweight champion and competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Professional Fighters League (PFL).
Magomed Magomedkerimov is a Russian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Welterweight division of Professional Fighters League (PFL).
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