Uniondale, NY – Kelvin Tiller came away with six points at PFL 3 2019 following a great kimura finish on Muhammed DeReese. He’s ready to show what else he’s got in the arsenal this year.

“I’ve always been one of those guys where if someone says they’re better than me at something, I want to show that they’re not better than me. I knew his gameplan was to take me to the ground. I watched a lot of his fights. Amateur fights, pro fights. He does the same thing. He doesn’t like to stand up. He doesn’t like to get hit. I knew he was going to throw some kicks to get me off my game. My gameplan was to submit him. I saw the triangle choke coming because I’ve seen him be lazy before. I knew he would give me a submission. I’m good everywhere. I said it last year. I’ll say it again: I am good everywhere. So I knew eventually he would give something up. And in the first round. It went perfectly. I’ve got more than one submission. I submitted Jared Rosholt last year. I knew he wasn’t a better wrestler than him. That was not a fluke, I’d win again. I’m just better everywhere. My gameplan was perfect.”

Kelvin Tiller is nicknamed “The Mama’s Boy” and his mom was in attendance for this fight, joining Tiller for his post-fight interview. Tiller gave some backstory and how that crafted him into the man he is today.

“I grew up in a one-bedroom apartment. Three sisters, me, and my mom, who was very poor. So to be here today and to have her here to see me with all of this, ESPN, all you guys. This is beautiful to us. To see her out there cheering, I saw a video of her going crazy after I won. It’s a beautiful feeling. People said I wouldn’t make it to 18. Then they said I wouldn’t make it to 21. So for her to see me at 28, I’ll be 29 this month. For her to see me perform at the level I’m performing on, it’s beautiful. She didn’t have to bury me when I was 18 or 21 like they said. And I’m still here today doing some positive stuff. I do a lot for my community. I take good care of my kids. I just want to inspire. I want to uplift people. I used to run the streets big time, so for me to be here and to be positive, like how I am today. I’m really trying to look out for the kids that are coming up behind me. I don’t post crazy stuff on my social media. I don’t cuss on my social media – well, I did just cuss on my social media – I usually don’t cuss on my social media. I don’t put nothing sexual up. The things that you see people doing today, I don’t do those things because I want to inspire young kids. Not just the kids that I have, but young kids that look up to me. The kids from my neighborhood. The kids that come from Topeka, Kansas, Kansas City, around the world. I really want to help them become better people. So I make sure I do the right things.”

With a strong start to the season, Tiller still sees the only direction to go as up. He added descriptions of how athletic he is for such a big guy.

“More fireworks. I go to finish fights. I don’t like to go to decisions. We train hard. I’m with professor Claudio Mattos now in Kansas City, Kansas, at Chute Boxe. I always trained hard, but I didn’t know what training hard was until I met this man. Back then, maybe last year, the year before that, I wouldn’t have fought for that kimura that hard. So when I got that kimura, I fought hard. I knew I was going to get it, I was confident because we drilled these so much. I just expect to see more. More knockouts. I’m 265 but I move like a lightweight. I can do 10 backflips in a row. I can almost dunk. There’s a lot of things I can do. I can throw spinning back kicks. I can do all those things. I’m just getting my feet wet. This is fun for me. I was talking to the guy the whole fight. I was telling him, ‘This is practice to me.’ Literally. He said, ‘Oh, you want to talk to me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, this is just practice.’ He’s throwing everything he had to throw, the hard shots. I went through all that. I was built for this, I was born for this, and I’m going to make a million dollars this year. I know I said that last year, some things happened, but I’m back, I don’t make excuses.”

Check out the rest of Kelvin Tiller’s post-fight presser above.

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Uniondale, NY – Satoshi Ishii, an Olympic gold medalist in judo, made his promotional debut at PFL 3 against short-notice opponent Zeke Tuinei-Wily. The Hawaiian proved to be tough, and even won on one judge’s scorecard.

“I want to take my hat off to my opponent. He’s very strong and his punches were heavy. I was surprised. Overall, I took him down a couple times. I thought my striking was very strong.”

Ishii had higher expectations of himself coming into this fight, and on top of that, Tuinei-Wily exceeded expectations.

“I thought I could take him down easier, but he was really strong and he knew how to get up from bottom. He was very difficult to control, very difficult to takedown, and his punches were very heavy.”

The Japanese veteran was supposed to battle 2018 heavyweight champion Philipe Lins, but the Brazilian pulled out with an injury.

“My training camp was for six weeks and very hard. And my opponent, Philipe [Lins], pulled out and I was a little upset. But my new opponent was very strong and tonight I became a better fighter.”

When it comes to who will make the playoffs, Ishii has two names in mind for the heavyweight bracket.

“It’s difficult to say. My opponent was very good, and I think he’ll be in the tournament. I think the Russian guy before me, Denis Goltsov, he will be in the tournament.”

This fight was more grueling than expected for Ishii, but he’ll have to be ready for his next fight in just one month.

“I am a born fighter and I can fight any time anywhere. But it is a tournament, so I have to make sure I don’t get injured. If you are injured, you cannot be in tournament. I can fight.”

Ishii represents Croatia, not his native Japan, when in the cage, and he explained why.

“I wanted to train with Mirko [Cro Cop] after his RIZIN Grand Prix. I went to train in Croatia and the Croatian people were very nice. I felt that I wanted to fight for Croatia.”

The post PFL 3 2019: Satoshi Ishii Humble in Victory, Believes Zeke Tuinei-Wily Will Make Playoffs appeared first on Cageside Press.

Uniondale, NY – We’ve reached the midway point of the PFL 2019 and the promotion has seen some great fights the season. PFL President Ray Sefo gave his overall thoughts on 2019 so far and specifically the Maxim Grishin vs. Jordan Johnson fight following PFL 3.

“That concludes the first round of our regular season. I hope everyone had a good time because everybody came out and put it on the line. Jason [Brown] and I kind of jinxed it. We said we’d probably have eight to 10 finishes tonight. We ended up with five. But hey, five is still good. There were some good highlights. Jordan Johnson came in tonight with an undefeated record and fell to one of our fighters. That shows where we are in the market. Who we are as the fighters we have in the league. He was an undefeated fighter and lost on a split decision. I thought the decision could have gone either way. It was a close fight. Congratulations to Maxim [Grishin] who won that fight. Now Jordan has to come back in his second regular-season fight and really battle hard to get to the playoffs because now he really has to earn points to get there. We ended up with five finishes tonight and I was hoping for five finishes. It was good to see the last few fights guys put it on the line and walk away with some high points and some finishes. It was great. I’m definitely looking forward to the second round of regular season fights in Atlantic City.”

The main event featured an excellent performance from Emiliano Sordi, who dominated last season’s light heavyweight runner up, Vinny Magalhaes, en route to a second-round stoppage. But the opportunity to perform this season almost didn’t come for the Argentinian.

“He took a page off of Sean O’Connell’s fight with Vinny [Magalhaes]. Because that looked like a replay. He came out, hit him, and just kept standing. Every time Vinny was trying to get him to the ground, Emiliano would defend and get it back to his feet and picked him apart. I think the stoppage was warranted because Vinny was taking a lot of shots. He was getting battered around the cage. But Sordi, I thought he fought well and looked great. Glad to have him back because going through the lineup at first, he was actually at the end of the lineup. Someone fell out and Sordi took that spot. I’m sure he’s happy with his performance tonight, and so are we.”

Unlike the second event, PFL 3 did not feature any excessively scary injuries. The one scare was from Alex Nicholson, who was visibly displaying pain in his midsection after his brutal fight with Francimar Barroso. Sefo gave an update on his health.

“Alex [Nicholson] said to me that he broke his rib in the first round. I told him that it’s not broken because he was talking fine. He was bending over. I’ve broken a few ribs in my day as well guys normally can’t be standing there bending over with a broken rib. Fortunately for him, he went to the hospital and got checked out and cleared. He’s all good. It’s probably just badly bruised.”

With the season halfway done, the former kickboxing great gave his thoughts on the top performers of 2019, and why his list features several returning names.

“Ray Cooper, he came out and did his thing. Sadibou Sy. When we told him we weren’t going to have the middleweight division, I thought he was going up to 205. He said no, he’s going down to 170. So my next question was, ‘Aren’t you too big for 170?’ But apparently he walks around at 185, 190. So out of everybody, I thought he was going to be the concern because he is a tall guy, but man he made weight easy. Those guys from last year. Natan [Schulte] did his thing. Lance Palmer did his thing. Rashid Magomedov again looked great. So some of the guys from last season. It’s like when I competed in K-1 where the top eight guys knew that we wanted to show the newcomers that we belonged. I think that’s what happened in this regular season. Most of the guys that came back from last year came out on top, winning their fights. I think that’s the attitude now. We’re the gatekeepers and you guys will have to earn that spot.”

Check out the rest of Ray Sefo’s post-fight presser above, including how Ronny Markes was nearly cut from the promotion.

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Uniondale, NY – Ronny Markes had a tough go in the first season of PFL, going 0-2. He got off to a much better start in at PFL 3 2019, finishing Sigi Pesaleli in the second round. However, due to missing weight, Markes still has a zero next to his name in the standings after coming in heavy. He was beyond apologetic after his fight.

“I just want to say, I’m so sorry to the promotion, the Professional Fighters League. Yesterday, I was no professional. I missed weight. I had a few problems in my camp, but that’s no excuse. I’m sorry to everyone here and I’m sorry to the PFL. I thank God for the opportunity to come tonight and fight. I want to say thanks to my opponent because he didn’t need to accept this fight. That shows how tough he is for accepting this fight tonight. I’m so happy and blessed to be able to fight tonight. I feel great.”

Markes had a deep arm-triangle in the first round, but couldn’t quite get the stoppage. The black belt broke down why the stoppage didn’t come.

“I didn’t get it 100-percent locked. I’m a black belt in jiu-jitsu. You can lose energy in one position though if you stay 100-percent locked. I think that’s bad for me. I let go of the position to go to the mount. I looked for the new opportunity for submission.”

This seemed to be a mismatch, with Markes having UFC experience and an 18-7 record heading into PFL 3 and Sigi Pesaleli having very little MMA experience to his name. But Pesaleli proved to be a worthy opponent.

“I see three fights in amateur, four fights in pro. He doesn’t have much background in MMA, but MMA starts in stand-up. He had a lot of kickboxing fights. He has a lot more experience than me in striking. Today, I proved I have good striking too. In the fight, he throws a punch, I throw back. I kick him, he kicks me. I think in MMA today, you need to respect everybody. It doesn’t matter if you have one fight, or 100 fights because everybody today trains everything. Training wrestling, training jiu-jitsu. I tried to submit him twice, and he defended the position. This shows how hard he’s worked on his ground game. Today in MMA, you need to respect everybody.”

With no points to his name, the pressure is on for Markes to get a big win in his next bout to secure a playoff spot.

“I’m really looking forward to my next fight. I believe I’ll be in the playoffs. I believe I’ll stop my fight before the third round. I said before, I’m sorry that I didn’t make weight. I’m blessed that my opponent accepted the fight. I’m an MMA fighter. I love this job. I love fighting. If I get points or no points, I’m happy. I feel the same. I’ll fight in July and make weight. Last year, I lost twice. This year has started off very good. I’m so happy.”

Two of the most talented fighters in the light heavyweight field, Markes and Vinny Magalhaes, are teammates who are both tied in the standings. Markes still has hope that and Magalhaes can meet in the finals.

“I’m not interested in fighting [Vinny Magalhaes]. We trained together and have talked about this. I hope, God bless, that me and him will fight in the finals. I really believe this. I will win my matches to get to the finals. Me and him are good friends, we train together every day. I don’t like the thought of fighting him before the finals.”

Check out the rest of the media scrum above.

The post PFL 3 2019: Ronny Markes Apologizes for Missing Weight, Confident in Playoff Spot appeared first on Cageside Press.

Uniondale, NY – Jordan Johnson came into this season of PFL as a favorite, but couldn’t quite impose his game on Maxim Grishin at PFL 3, resulting in a split decision loss. While he doesn’t agree with the scorecards, he knows there’s nothing he can do to change the result.

“I want to give my opinion, but I want it to be clear that I’m not complaining. If I won, I’d stand in front of the cameras. I lost. They said, ‘You don’t have to do this,’ but I’m here. I think I definitely won the first and second rounds. For sure. I think I was winning the third round. I got rocked, so I won maybe four minutes of that round. I get it. It’s combat sports. Judges like that. I won [rounds] one and two, most of three. He got that knockdown. Judges gave it to him. Again, it doesn’t matter what I think. I’m not salty about it. This is my first time standing in front of the cameras as a loser. I’ve lost a lot in wrestling. I’m not going to hang my head about this. I didn’t take any shortcuts, I did everything I could. I’m not going to say could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. But I can’t go back. I can only go forward. That’s it.”

As far as his performance goes, Johnson just wishes he could have done more.

“I’m just not going to be that guy. Maybe it hasn’t hit me yet. But I’ve stood in front of the cameras every time I’ve won. I’m not going to be any different, I’m Jordan Johnson. Win, lose, I gave it my all. There’s nothing to be ashamed of about that… I just wish I hit the gas pedal harder.”

After stating his case, Johnson gave Maxim Grishin credit where credit is due.

“He was slick. He was doing a really good job of getting that single leg and sliding that leg out. My coach mentioned that. I really don’t pay much attention to my opponents. My coach told me about that, we worked on that, and he was good at that.”

A big difference between PFL and other promotions is that win or lose, you’re locked in for the whole year.

“I love that about the PFL. I have a date again. If this was a different organization and I just took this loss, that would be harder, not knowing when I’m going to go again. I’m going to get ready and give it my all again.”

Check out the rest of the post-fight scrum above.

The post PFL 3 2019: Jordan Johnson Believes He Won First Two Rounds, But Taking First Loss in Stride appeared first on Cageside Press.

Uniondale, NY – Maxim Grishin was on fire heading into PFL 3 2019 with just one loss in his last 18 bouts. He had a tough task ahead of him in undefeated former UFC fighter Jordan Johnson, but his takedown defense proved strong and a third-round knockdown sealed the victory. With the expectations surrounding Johnson’s PFL journey, Grishin was more than prepared to take him on.

“I was confident in myself and I know that [Jordan Johnson] was a top opponent because he came from the UFC, the top organization in the world. He has a great background in wrestling so I was preparing for everything and I was prepared for a tough fight.”

The lengths he went to for that preparation are impressive, down to Johnson’s specific style of wrestling.

“So my opponent wrestled in Iowa and I have some friends back in Russia who have wrestled in Iowa and know that style. They helped me prepare for this. I was expecting everything he did.”

The fight ended in a split decision, but Grishin was confident that he did more than enough to get the nod.

“It was a close fight, but regardless of the knockdown, I was controlling everything. He tried to take me down but I had better defense. He didn’t control me on the floor either.”

With all the focus on Johnson heading into the fight, Grishin honed in on his self-belief, and that showed in the cage.

“I don’t really care if somebody underestimates me or somebody doubts me. I just want to thank Ray Sefo and PFL for giving me this opportunity to welcome this guy to the organization. Jordan’s never faced an opponent like me.”

With standard matchmaking being a part of the regular season in PFL, Grishin has one request for his next opponent before the matchmaking becomes merit-based.

“I really don’t care who will be my next opponent. Whoever the PFL gives me, I will beat them. Just not my countrymen from Russia. I want somebody else.”

The post PFL 3 2019’s Maxim Grishin: “Jordan Johnson Never Faced an Opponent Like Me” appeared first on Cageside Press.

Uniondale, NY – Ante Delija was developing into a top European prospect before a broken leg in 2015 kept him out of action for nearly three years. Delija returned to the cage in RIZIN in 2018 then opened up his debut season with PFL with a clean decision victory over Carl Seumanutafa in what was his first fight in the USA.

“I feel great. This was my dream to come to America and fight in America in the PFL. I feel great and I’m excited for my second fight.”

Delija was meant to face Ben Edwards, not Seumanutafa, at PFL 3, but that did not matter to him come fight night.

“I’m always ready. It doesn’t matter who my opponent is. What’s important is that I’m ready. I don’t care who I fight. I just know that I am ready.”

Following the broken leg, Delija went under the knife five times. Now that he’s all fixed, he’s ready to start rattling off wins again.

“This is life. This is to see what you’re made of. I’m ready to take five fights in six months. I’m excited and I was made to fight this often. I once fought 17 times in four years. Then in the last four years, I only had one fight. I’m ready.”

After rocking Seumanutafa in the first round, Delija showed off his wrestling. The Croatian fighter is well -rounded and there is reasoning behind that.

“I have really really good wrestling, but I like to stand-up. I train with Mirko Cro Cop and I can fight with anybody standing up. Mirko is the best striker in the history of MMA, a legend.”

The post PFL 3 2019: After Broken Leg, Ante Delija Ready to Be Active Once Again appeared first on Cageside Press.

Uniondale, NY – Bozigit Ataev opened up PFL 3 2019 in a big way with a first-round knockout against Dan Spohn. It earned the Russian veteran six valuable points in the light heavyweight standings and avenged a 2018 loss as well.

“I’m really happy to get the six points. If you guys remember last season, my fight was first in the season, same as this time. I was fighting the same guy and winning the whole fight, then in the third round, I lost control for a second and he connected with a punch and I was out for a second. So I lost to that guy and I was craving for revenge and I’m glad it happened. I got this guy in the first five, finished him in the first round, and got six points.”

Ataev is part of a slew of Dagestani fighters on the PFL roster. The country breeds a special type of mixed martial artist, and Ataev proudly represents his nation when stepping in the cage.

“I’m very proud to be a Dagestani. To represent Dagestan in an international arena, I’m very glad that PFL gave this opportunity for me, for other guys, the young guys. In Russia, in Dagestan, we don’t have the top-level organizations and the guys cannot introduce themselves to the world. I’m very happy, I’m very glad, and very grateful to PFL that they sign our guys, our young guys, and me as well because I am 39-years-old and very blessed to get this opportunity to represent my country, my republic, my school, my teachers, my coaches. I am very happy.”

The 2018 season was all about shaking out the cobwebs for Ataev. He was coming off an 11-year layoff prior to last season, which would make it tough for anyone to succeed. He still was a force to be reckoned with last season, but not to the degree he will be this year.

“I think I am the one who will win the belt this year. I am feeling confident, same as last year. But before last year, I hadn’t fought for 11 years in top organizations. I had a lack of experience, so I made a couple of minor mistakes and I lost that opportunity. But this time I am confident and I will win this belt because I am hungry for it.”

Bozigit Ataev has been around MMA for a long time and has seen it all. PFL, though, in his mind, is a special organization.

“The biggest difference from PFL to RINGS, PRIDE, whatever was back in the days, the biggest difference is that the fighters now have the biggest motivation in their life: to get the million dollars. Because all the time you’re fighting for a couple grand, and it’s not enough for a living. And the professionalization. You have the scores and you have to finish every fight in the first round so that you get more points and get to the playoffs and finals as soon as possible. That is the biggest difference. Along with the motivation to get a million dollars.”

The post PFL 3 2019: Confident Bozigit Ataev Sees Million Dollars as “Biggest Motivation” in MMA appeared first on Cageside Press.

Uniondale, NY – Francimar Barroso tore through the first regular season of PFL with a pair of first-round stoppages. He encountered a lot more resistance at PFL 3 against Alex Nicholson, overcoming several troubling situations to win a split decision.

“I believe I got the hardest fight that could have been given to me. It was obviously a very very tough fight. No disrespect to any of the other opponents, but we were obviously throwing down. And we’re heavyweights. Gas runs out sometimes.”

During his days in the UFC, where he went 3-4, Barroso fought at light heavyweight. He eliminated the weigh cut upon joining PFL to fight at heavyweight, which has been a great decision.

“I’m feeling really good at heavyweight. I don’t have to diet and whatnot. It’s been a really good transition for me and I’m very happy here at heavyweight.”

“Nothing was surprising. I knew this was going to be an extremely tough fight. Three months ago I had an extremely tough fight as well, and I knew what to expect coming in here.”

One of the more surprising stories of the fight was Alex Nicholson’s defense on the ground, hitting several sweeps against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.

“He was super slick on the ground. Obviously, we were both really sweaty. I tried to control the position as much as I can, and when I was on top I was throwing as much as I could. Not surprised, just Alex knew I was a black belt coming in and he was very prepared. Much respect to Alex.”

In a grueling back-and-forth fight, it can be tough to know who did enough in the judges’ eyes. The Brazilian was very positive heading into the decision.

“I knew I won the two rounds. My corner was very confident that I won the two rounds. There was no doubt in my mind that I had that fight won.”

The post PFL 3 2019: Francimar Barroso Believes Alex Nicholson Was Toughest Fight on Heavyweight Roster appeared first on Cageside Press.

The Professional Fighters League put on its third and final show of the season at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island on Thursday night. The big men were in action, with heavyweights and light heavyweights throwing down on the PFL 2019 Week 3 card. Winners included Ronny Markes, Satoshi Ishii, and Kelvin Tiller, the latter one of the breakout stars of the PFL’s inaugural season.

Check below for pull results from the event (PFL 14 overall, PFL 3 for 2019), as well as a gallery of photo highlights courtesy of the Professional Fighters League!

Main Card Results

• Emiliano Sordi def. Vinny Magalhaes by TKO (Punches) in Round 2 (2:45)
• Kelvin Tiller def. Muhammed DeReese by Submission (Kimura) in Round 1 (3:22)
• Satoshi Ishii def. Zeke Tuinei-Wily by Split Decision (29-28 x2, 28-29)
• Denis Goltsov def. Jared Rosholt by TKO (Left Hook and Punches) in Round 1 (2:03)
• Ali Isaev def. Valdrin Istrefi by Unanimous Decision (30-27 x3)
• Viktor Nemkov def. Rakim Cleveland by Unanimous Decision (29-28 x3)
• Ronny Markes def. Sigi Pesaleli by TKO (Punches) in Round 2 (3:44)
• Rashid Yusupov def. Mikhail Mokhnatkin by Unanimous Decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)

Preliminary Card Results

• Francimar Barroso def. Alex Nicholson by Split Decision (29-28 x2, 28-29)
• Maxim Grishin def. Jordan Johnson by Unanimous Decision (29-28 x3)
• Ante Delija def. Carl Seumanutafa by Unanimous Decision (30-26 x2, 30-27)
• Bozigit Ataev def. Dan Spohn by TKO (Punches) in Round 1 (3:25)

The post PFL 2019 Week 3 Photo Highlights appeared first on Cageside Press.