With two first round TKO finishes on the night at PFL 10, Ray Cooper III absolutely stole the show.
Heading into the Professional Fighters League 2018 season, it felt like the big names at welterweight were poised for greatness. Rick Story. Jake Shields. Perhaps even another former UFC fighter, Bojan Veličković, who had never been finished. Few would have suspected that Hawaii’s Ray Cooper III would be the breakout star at 170lbs for the PFL. Yet after PFL 10, there’s little question that he’s the man to beat come New Year’s Eve at Madison Square Garden.
Cooper, a second generation fighter who turned pro in 2012, entered the PFL season off a loss to Handesson Ferreira in November 2017 in the regional scene. Coming into the Professional Fighters League, he was probably best known for a win over ‘Krazy Horse’ Charles Bennett. How quickly that has changed. In the regular season, Cooper stunned by upsetting Jake Shields, and getting a little family vengeance in the process. Shields and Cooper’s father, Ray Cooper Jr., had fought twice in the early 2000s, splitting the pair of bouts. At PFL 3 in July, Cooper III made short work of the former UFC title challenger and Strikeforce champ, earning the TKO win in the second round. A similar fate awaited Pavel Kusch at PFL 6.
On Saturday night at PFL 10 in Washington, D.C., Cooper and Shields met again, in quarterfinal action. This time, Shields didn’t even make it out of the first round. A wild takedown attempt, mostly out of desperation, led to Shields landing in a vulnerable position and eating blow after blow while covering up. Just over three minutes into the fight, and Cooper had his third TKO under the PFL banner.
The fourth would come just hours later. In the semifinals, Cooper was paired up against Handesson Ferreira. Remember that name? Yes, the same Ferreira who handed Ray Cooper III his last loss, just under a year ago. This time, a determined Cooper made no mistake. He went on the attack early, stalked Ferreira, and took him to the ground. When Ferreira tried to power up, he ate a number of heavy strikes from Cooper, who rained down punch upon punch. Soon enough the ref waved it off, and Cooper had this second first round finish of the night. His fourth TKO win of the PFL season. And his fourth win in 2018.
The Braddah Boy cannot be contained! Welterweight Semifinal: #1 seed Ray Cooper III defeats #5 seed Handesson Ferreira by TKO in Round 1. Cooper advances to the PFL 2018 Championship at @HuluTheaterMSG for a shot at $1 Million! #PFLPlayoffs #MMA @HFboydoido pic.twitter.com/Sr71Se3ljm
— #PFLmma (@ProFightLeague) October 21, 2018
Having literally punched his way to a chance at a million dollars, Cooper claimed that his game plan was always just to make it to the finale. Yet finishing in each and every fight this season, he stole the show, especially on a card with just four finishes in total. Cooper owned half of those.
In December, Ray Cooper III will face Magomed Magomedkerimov in New York City. And should he continue on as he has this season, he could very well start 2019 with a million dollars to his name.
