Coming off a first-round finish in the opening round of the 2025 PFL World Tournament, the size advantage for Alexandr Romanov was apparent when he took to the cage versus Valentin Moldavsky, a long-time Bellator heavyweight, at Friday’s PFL Chicago.
In the opening two minutes of the semi-final matchup, Romanov used the clinch to execute a successful belly-to-belly suplex to ground Moldavsky. Showing in the process exactly why he goes by the nickname “King Kong.”
After carrying the weight of his opponent on the ground for at least a minute and escaping the full mount position, Moldavksy got back to his feet and engaged in the striking, but it wasn’t long before Romanov was once again working to tie up his arms and get back into a clinch position. After a few deep attempts but with no successful takedowns or tie-ups, the two heavyweights began to slug it out with big shots on the feet.
The two began to exchange some nice combinations in the last minute of the opening round but an accidental low-blow to the groin area of Romanov unfortunately ended the fight early due to the fact that Romanov was injured and unable to continue. The knee that connected low left Romanov writing in pain, unable to get back to his feet.
The fight ended in a no contest at 4:26 of round one, with Alexandr Romanov advancing to the 2025 PFL Heavyweight World Tournament Finals via default, based on the judges, despite the bout not making it out of the first round. He was taken out in a stretcher this evening in Chicago due to the extremity of his pain.
Official Result: Valentin Moldavsky vs. Alexandr Romanov ends in No Contest (accidental low blow), Round 1, 4:26
PFL officials later issued the following statement to Cageside Press:
“Valentin Moldavsky vs Alexandr Romanov ends in a no contest after an accidental groin strike (1st round, 4:26). Per PFL World Tournament rules, for the purpose of determining advancement in the tournament, in the case of a no contest the three judges are asked to choose the fighter who they think had the most complete body of work for the entirety of the fight. The judges chose Romanov to progress to the finals. The official result will remain a no contest. Romanov will face Oleg Popov for the 2025 PFL World Tournament Heavyweight Title.”
