No one, with the exception perhaps of Jeremy Kennedy and his team themselves, saw the opening round of his fight with Movlid Khaybulaev at PFL 1 coming.
Kicking off the main card as the PFL launched its World Tournament, the featherweight fight found the well-traveled Canadian, a veteran of Bellator MMA and the UFC, up against an undefeated former PFL champ, albeit one coming off an extended layoff.
Still, the going logic was that Khaybulaev was the heavy favorite. No one apparently delivered that memo to Kennedy, as he lit up the Russian in the opening round. Lefts, rights, uppercuts, and smashing elbows had a fading Khaybulaev covering up at times, and bloodied around the nose. The ex-champ took some big swings in response, but main hit air. Kennedy used his length well, showed veteran patience, and ultimately controlled the action bell to bell, finishing the round with an emphatic takedown.
Movlid Khaybulaev needed to flip the script in round two, and he did. He rocked Kennedy with a punch, and when Kennedy wobbled, Khaybulaev went in for the kill. He landed a jump knee, and Kennedy went down. Khaybulaev piled on with smashing blows, on top, trying to put Kennedy away. The Canadian grabbed a leg however, just barely staving off a finish. He managed to get back up, only to eat a massive elbow over the top, not dissimilar to thos Kennedy himself had landed in the opening frame. Two more elbows followed, but Kennedy ducked both, then clinched up.
Khaybulaev was back in the fight, however, firing knees a at the end of the round, drilling Kennedy’s thigh with hands clinched around the waist.
Heading to the third there was little question the bout was tied at around a piace. Khaybulaev fell back on his wrestling early, looking to take the back and take the fight down. Kennedy, whose MMA wrestling has consistently proven slid, reversed, but couldn’t maintain the position, reversed again in turn. When Khaybulaev level changed, Kennedy fired elbows, then defended takedown before moving back to center. After eating a punch, Kennedy shot for his own takedown, which Khaybulaev easily avoided. Back on the fence, it was Kennedy in control, in what was more of a grinding round compared to the opening two, which were all-out wars.
Ultimately, the fight did come down to the third round. With little in the way of damage and no takedowns in the round (the pair were even across with fight, each landing one), it more or less came down to control. Khaybulaev had a slight edge there, enough to win him the fight on two scorecards, sending him to the featherweight PFL World Tournament semifinals.
Official Result: Movlid Khaybulaev def. Jeremy Kennedy by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
