Atlanta, GA — In a rematch with Marcin Held at PFL 4 on Friday, Brazil’s Natan Schulte got his revenge.
Held had defeated Schulte last season, with the fight going the distance. It went the distance again on Friday at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta, only this time, it was Schulte getting the nod from the judges.
“After this fight, I was a little nervous, because it’s a rematch. But I listened to my coach, and I won this fight by the grace of God,” Schulte (22-5-1), a former PFL lightweight champion, told Cageside Press following the bout. All three judges score the fight for the Brazilian, who hunted the finish throughout.
“This is very good for me, because the first fight against Marcin, I started a little lazy, you know? And I lost the first round. But this fight, I started very crazy. The first round, I wanted to TKO this guy all the time, my kicks, my cross hook— I tried to TKO him, but it is what it is.”
The Marcin Held he fought this time around, said Schulte, “was the same, but I was different. In this fight, I was very hungry, very excited to try my striking. I put a lot of combinations, my kicks [were] better, and I started [early], I started very fast. I was with my coach before the fight, saying ‘hey, start this fight quick. In the first second, go and try to KO him.'”
While Schulte got the win, it’s a moral victory more than anything. He’s left out of the post-season, with just three points overall after two fights in 2022.
Watch the full PFL 4 post-fight press scrum with Natan Schulte above. More coverage can be found below.
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Ray Sefo
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Antonio Carlos Junior
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Alex Martinez
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Olivier Aubin-Mercier
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Jeremy Stephens
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Natan Schulte
