Just a few weeks after announcing the first-ever Professional Fighters League (PFL) vs. Bellator “Champions vs. Champions” mega event — which is set to go down isnide Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sat., Feb. 24, 2024 — a title fight has been removed from the star-studded lineup.
Magomed Magomedkerimov has been ruled out of his scheduled Welterweight title fight against Bellator’s 170-pound title holder, Jason Jackson, for an unspecified reason. As a result, Ray Cooper III will step in to face “The Ass-Kicking Machine” in a non-title fight set to be competed at a Catchweight of 182 pounds.
Cooper is coming off a unanimous decision loss at the hands of Derek Brunson at PFL 10 in Nov. 2023, his second loss in three fights. The fight was Cooper’s Middleweight debut, but he missed weight by 1.6 pounds, his third such transgression.
Cooper III won the PFL tournament as a Welterweight in 2019 and 2021, but lost the 2018 tournament to Magomedkerimov, coincidentally enough. Overall, Cooper has amassed a 12-4-1 record under the PFL banner. As for Jackson, he won the 170-pound title by upsetting Yaroslav Amosov at Bellator 301, handing the Ukrainian-born fighter his first-ever defeat by stopping him in the third round (highlights).
Also, Emmanuel Palacio will step in to face Ali Walsh after Chris Morris was removed from the event, also for undisclosed reasons.
The stacked event will proceed with three title fights as PFL Heavyweight kingpin, Renan Ferreira, battles Bellator’s champion, Ryan Bader, in the main event. PFL Light Heavyweight champion, Impa Kasanganay, will drop down to Middleweight to battle Bellator’s 185-pound king, Johnny Eblen, while Jesus Pinedo takes on Patricio Pitbull for Featherweight supremacy.
Disappointing pulling out of a Cross Promotion Title Fight over a month out for an “Unspecified Reason”
Was looking forward to that fight. Tough spot for Cooper to step into.
That is still a great card.
Probably had to “pull out” due to cross contamination of testosterone suspension, from a goat he was balls deep in…
I’m surprised they have a woman’s fight on in this Saudi card, as woman need to be covered up ,
So the uniform will probably similar to what the saudi women have to wear in track n field,
I don’t know how it’s gonna work
This is an excellent card I will purchase this.
Aj Mckee - Collard? That is crazy fun matchup.
What are they charging for the ppv,
I’ll be streaming anyway, but just curious
Not sure at the moment this is just too much fun this card
Ill buy it so no interruptions / spyware / malware lol
Real dont worry about spyware or malware…
For all I know it may be free for us here in the uk
Yea there is a lot of fuckery.
Streaming an event is not worth it.
Plus this PC I have has never been on a website other than youtube or Wikipedia lol I like to keep it that way.
I OG on phone.
I exclusively OG on my phone also,
Mostly because I forgot my password and I’m logged in permanently on the phone