Las Vegas — Returning PFL welterweight champion Sadibou Sy closed out the show at the 2023 PFL 3 card on Friday, but he wasn’t the main event.
Thanks to some bizarre scheduling, PFL 3 saw its main card air first, followed by “postliminary” fights, going down after the main card on ESPN+ in the U.S. Which meant Sy fought last, despite Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Shane Burgos being the official main event on Friday.
For Sy (14-6-2), a.k.a. “The Swedish Denzel Washington,” it’s better to go first or last than be in the middle.
“I would love to be the first, or the last. Because either you open, and you’re early and you get it all over, or you do it last and you finish the show,” he told Cageside Press following the fight. “I obviously tried my best to finish with a bang.”
So did he feel like the main event? “A little bit. A little bit,” Sy admitted. “Last fight, so a little bit.”
With five points following a second-round finish of Jarrah Hussein Al-Silawi set up with a knee, Sy is in a good spot moving into the next regular season fight. Despite a highly competitive field, however, there’s no specific name in mind for the defending champ, as to who he wants to fight next.
“I focus on myself. I focus on what I can do to become better,” Sy stated. “I have eight or nine weeks to get better; there’s a lot of things in the fight, during the first round, like openings that I saw that I didn’t capitalize on. I just want to tighten everything up.”
“When I’m on my A-game, nobody’s going to stop me,” he added.
Of course, there were some other big finishes on Friday. Both Magomed Umalatov and Magomed Magomedkerimov secured six points with first round finishes, as did Carlos Leal, who Sy faced in the playoffs last year.
“I already beat Leal, and I already faced one of the Magos,” said Sy when presented with that list of potential names for his next fight. “Listen, I believe that we’re all going to face each other during this season, because all of us are great fighters. For me, one of the things that I’ve learned with PFL and with this format is it’s hard to have one guy that you’re looking for, because it’s a tournament. So for me, I have to be ready for everyone. Everyone’s getting it.”
Watch the full 2023 PFL 3 post-fight press scrum with Sadibou Sy above.
