Brent Primus, former Bellator MMA lightweight champ, and Gadzhi Rabadanov, another Bellator alum, faced off in the PFL’s 2024 lightweight final on Friday, with both gold and a million dollars in prize money on the line in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
An early takedown by Rabadanov saw Primus defending with a guillotine, but he quickly bailed on it. Rabadanov then tied up Primus, looking to isolate a leg while Primus flirted with first an omoplata, then a gogoplata. A low percentage submission, in MMA at least, and one Rabadanov easily pulled free of. Still, Primus stayed active hunting submissions off his back, stalling the progress of Rabadanov for a time. He finally settled in, inside of Primus’s guard, and landed several punches to the body. If nothing else, Primus was taking an interesting approach: rather than trying to scramble out against a fighter with solid Dagestani wrestling, Primus stuck to his jiu-jitsu, and kept Rabadanov from doing any serious damage.
Round two saw Primus the aggressor on the feet early, as he had been in the opening frame prior to being taken down. Radadanov, on the outside, circled, and threw a few leg kicks. Things took a turn just under two minutes in, however, when Rabadanov uncorked a combo that, with its final punch, dropped Primus. Rabadanov followed him down, and Primus again tied him up on the ground, drawing a leg up behind the neck and looking for a possible triangle. It wasn’t there, and Rabadanov would again spend ample time in top control. This time, Primus did nearly scramble out; when caught, he fired elbows off his back to the side of Rabadanov’s head.
Rabadanov found more success on the feet in round three, landing his left hand more than once, though not clean, at least initially. That would change moments later, with the Russian uncorking a combination that put Primus first on skates, then face down. A left, a second left, then a right and Primus had toppled over, giving Gadzhi Rabadanov the PFL lightweight championship, and a million dollars U.S. to go with it.
Official Result: Gadzhi Rabadanov def. Brent Primus by knockout, Round 3, 2:31
