PFL made its long-awaited return to France on Saturday, touching down in the LDLC Arena with two title tilts atop a 10-fight card for PFL Lyon. Whenever PFL is in Europe, the stars shine brightest, which rang true once again when Vadim Nemkov and Cris Cyborg earned dominant victories to capture and defend their respective titles.
A former Bellator light heavyweight champion turned heavyweight destroyer, Nemkov (19-2, 1 NC) ran through his tall test, Renan Ferreira (13-4, 3 NC), in the evening’s main event.
Advertisement
Nemkov gauged his distance without landing a strike in the early moments of the fight, only to bull-rush and hit a takedown on his giant 6-foot-8 counterpart. From there, he smothered with ground-and-pound and positional transitions to secure a first-round arm-triangle choke submission and claim the inaugural PFL heavyweight title.
Outside of a brief scramble that allowed hammerfist openings from Ferreira, Nemkov avoided any danger and continued to prove he’s arguably the best fighter on the PFL roster.
This matchup felt like an appetizer for a pairing with Francis Ngannou, which has lingered as a possibility since Nemkov arrived at heavyweight. Whether or not Ngannou sticks around for a fight like that remains to be seen, but Nemkov did his part to call out the former UFC heavyweight king after his win.
In Saturday’s co-main event, Cyborg (29-2, 1 NC) showed an old dog can still learn new tricks, as she earned only the second submission win of her illustrious 32-fight career.
Advertisement
Cyborg’s challenger, the previously unbeaten Sara Collins (6-1), put up a valiant effort against the all-time great champion, finding her most success with her strong counter-grappling.
Ultimately, that was also her downfall though, as a failed head-and-arm throw nearly set Collins up for an armbar, only for Cyborg to escape out from behind her, then take Collins’ back and lock on a brutal vice grip-like face crank to force the tap.
It was a slow-burning performance overall from the 40-year-old legend. Cyborg dictated the pace throughout with her patented stalking pressure, consistently launching her offensive weapons like missiles toward their target.
Advertisement
Now the questions turn toward Cyborg and how much longer she’ll compete. One more MMA fight appears to be the champion’s plan, and she went as far as to float the idea of a clash with PFL flyweight superstar Dakota Ditcheva at 135 pounds.
Full results from PFL Lyon can be seen below.
-
Vadim Nemkov def. Renan Ferreira via submission (triangle choke) at 4:00 of R1
-
Cris Cyborg def. Sara Collins via submission (face crank) at 2:55 of R3
-
Patrick Habirora def. Kevin Jousset via KO (punches) at 2:42 of R1 | Watch finish
-
Taylor Lapilus def. Liam Gittins via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
-
Baris Adiguzel def. Dean Garnett via TKO (punches) at 0:44 of R1
-
Boris Mbarga Atangana def. Guilherme Soares via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:35 of R2
-
Aleksandr Chizov def. Connor Hughes via KO (punch) at 0:50 of R3
-
Gustavo Oliveira def. Movsar Ibragimov via TKO (punches) 0:34 of R2
-
Sabrina de Sousa def. Paulina Wiśniewska via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
-
Rayan Balbali def. Levi Batchelor via split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
