Denis Goltsov is heading to his second straight PFL championship.
The 34-year-old Russian and 2023 PFL heavyweight runner-up made simple work of Tim Johnson on Friday in the principle occasion of PFL 7, bulldozing over Johnson with a ground-and-pound assault to punch his ticket to the 2024 heavyweight finals.
The bracket’s No. 1 seed, Goltsov (35-8) tripped Johnson to the mat off an early cage clinch then barraged him with punches from high place and finally from Johnson’s again to safe the mercy stoppage on the 2:26 mark of the opening spherical. Goltsov is now 7-1 below the PFL umbrella since 2022, together with his lone loss coming in a second-round knockout by the hands of Renan Ferreira in 2023 finals. Goltsov completed Linton Vassell, Thiago Santos, and now Johnson (18-10) to safe his second likelihood at PFL’s $1 million grand prize.
Assembly Goltsov within the heavyweight finals can be No. 2 seed Oleg Popov (18-1), who defeated two-time Bellator title challenger Linton Vassell (24-10, 1 NC) in a lopsided if uneventful unanimous determination. Popov repeatedly took Vassell to the ground and dominated the grappling to safe a trio of 30-27 scores and hold his $1 million dream alive.
Within the co-main occasion, homegrown star and No. 1 seed Dakota Ditcheva (13-0) continued to show the ladies’s flyweight season into her personal private spotlight reel, demolishing Jena Bishop (7-2) with a brutal flurry of knees and punches for one more first-round stoppage.
After escaping an early takedown, Ditcheva dropped Bishop simply minutes into the competition with a clear clinch knee to the top. Ditcheva then allowed her dazed opponent to face, solely to down her once more with a picture-perfect proper hand that drew an finish to the competition on the 3:54 mark of the spherical. Ditcheva is now 3-0 with three first-round knockouts in 2024.
“Did they count on [me to win]? As a result of I took rather a lot crap-talking off the web. Her entire combat week, all the ladies within the event — I believe I’ve proved sufficient simply there. We don’t do no cut up choices round right here,” a smirking Ditcheva mentioned post-fight.
Standing throughout Ditcheva within the $1 million finals can be one-time UFC title challenger and No. 2 seeded Taila Santos (22-3), who bested Bellator flyweight champion Liz Carmouche (22-8) in a grinding affair to seize a unanimous determination.
Santos took Carmouche down early and spent the ultimate minutes of the primary spherical trying to find a rear-naked choke from Carmouche’s again. Carmouche defended it nicely and rallied with a smothering displaying within the third spherical, though Santos landed sufficient onerous proper fingers and fended off Carmouche’s grappling within the first two frames to safe 29-28 scores. Notably, Carmouche would’ve been penalized some extent for lacking weight by one pound had the scores been nearer, nevertheless Santos was profitable sufficient for it to not come into play.
PFL 7 passed off August 2 at Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.
Take a look at full PFL 7 outcomes under.
Essential Card
Denis Goltsov def. Tim Johnson by way of TKO (punches) at 2:26 of Spherical 1
Dakota Ditcheva def. Jena Bishop by way of TKO (knees and punches) at 3:54 of Spherical 1
Oleg Popov def. Linton Vassell by way of unanimous determination (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Taila Santos def. Liz Carmouche by way of unanimous determination (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Preliminary Card
Sergey Bilostenniy def. Tyrell Fortune by way of verbal submission (heel hook) at 2:00 of Spherical 1
Alexei Pergande def. Daniel Boehle by way of unanimous determination (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Cody Legislation def. Zachary Hicks by way of submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:15 of Spherical 1
Dedrek Sanders def. Sergio Cossio by way of TKO (strikes) at 2:34 of Spherical 1
Anthony Ivy def. Jaleel Willis by way of submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:49 of Spherical 2
Kevin Pease def. Nick Meck by way of unanimous determination (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
