Ray Cooper III Is Interested In The PFL Creating A Middleweight Division

Ray Cooper III hopes the PFL creates a middleweight division in the future.

This Friday, Hawaii’s Cooper returns to action for the first time in 2022 to kick off his season at welterweight. He was originally scheduled to face Magomed Umalatov; however, his opponent pulled out for undisclosed reasons. Brazil’s Carlos Leal, who won a contract on PFL’s Challenger Series, is stepping in on short notice.

The short notice opponent doesn’t matter to Cooper because he doesn’t want tape on his opponent.

“I don’t watch anything on any of my opponents,” Cooper said during the PFL 3 media day on Wednesday. “I really don’t care. I don’t care what he’s going to do. I only care about what I’m gonna do.”

Cooper is a two-time PFL welterweight champion and is planning for the three-peat. However, if the PFL were to open a middleweight division, he would be open to competing there. That is, only if his two brothers get signed to the PFL.

“I would definitely compete in the middleweight division,” Cooper told Cageside Press. “I feel like 170, there’s not that [many] guys already. There’s only a couple guys that are top caliber. That’s only if my brother and them would come over.”

Makoa Cooper and Blake Cooper both picked up wins in March and if they keep going the way they are going, we could see three Coopers in the PFL in future.

Cooper faces Leal at PFL 3 this Friday, May 6, 2022, in Arlington, Texas. Watch the rest of Ray Cooper’s media day appearance above. More coverage can be found below.