Following PFL 4, Ray Sefo breaks down the Steven Siler vs. Alexandre Almeida finish from his perspective, and we get hints about Kayla Harrison’s return.
PFL 4 continued the Professional Fighters League’s steady development over the course of this, their first full season. Four events, and the playoffs set for two divisions, featherweight and heavyweight. There have been big performances from the usual suspects, like Lance Palmer and Andre Harrison. And breakout stars, like Kayla Harrison and Kelvin Tiller.
Despite the loss of fighters like Blagoi Ivanov, Jon Fitch, and Justin Gaethje, the former WSOF, now utilizing a “pure sport” format, has done quite well for itself. If the format proves popular and the business model sustainable, it could even find itself attracting mid-level talents away from Bellator and the UFC, where the opportunity to win a million dollars is fleeting for those not at the top of PPV cards.
Backstage following PFL 4, execs Ray Sefo and Carlos Silva addressed the fourth event of the season, the return of Kayla Harrison, the quick stoppage by Steven Siler earlier in the night, and more.
“Ten fights, seven stoppages. Can’t complain, right?” a clearly pleased Ray Sefo observed.
“PFL 4 was really that first moment where everything that we’ve talked about as we’ve put together this regular season, the playoffs and the championship, starts to happen,” Silva added. He singled out fighters like Kelvin Tiller and Steven Siler, the latter for his “amazing finish” that has him set as the number one seed at featherweight, over Palmer and Harrison.
Siler’s guillotine submission over Alexandre Almeida, however, didn’t come without controversy. Siler told Cageside Press backstage that even he wasn’t sure if Ameida was out. The Brazilian immediately leapt to his feet in protest after the ref broke the hold, ruling Almeida had gone out.
On the subject of the finish, Sefo said that from his perspective, “when [Almeida] got dropped, he got dropped right in front of us. So I knew he was hurt.” As Siler pounced on his fallen foe, “when Siler locked on the guillotine, there was a second where [Almeida’s] knee came up, but not long after that, his knee falls. I was like, ‘he’s out.’ And then Dan [Miragliotta] also jumped in and stopped it. So to me, I thought he was out. I didn’t think he moved enough, or he didn’t let Dan know that he was okay, especially when he got dropped.”
Sefo pointed out that given he’d been rocked, it was a slightly different situation than had Siler simply shot in and got Almeida in the hold.
“As the fighter, he’s got to let the ref know that he’s okay,” Sefo later added. The end result, Siler gets the win. There has been talk of Almeida appealing the decision, which Sefo acknowledged, but it’s unlikely to succeed.
On the topic of one of the PFL’s breakout stars so far this year, Kayla Harrison, Sefo told Cageside Press that “we have a couple of opponents in mind, but that’s still in the works, so we’ll release that soon.” Silva then added that “Kayla’s in the gym, she’s training hard, I spoke to her yesterday. She’s excited, and you’ll definitely see her in August.”
Catch the full post-fight press scrum with Carlos Silva and Ray Sefo from PFL 4 above!
