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Fight Facts: PFL 2 2019 Regular Season


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Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS: 503
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 51

The Professional Fighters League on Thursday kicked off the lightweight and featherweight portion of its 2019 schedule in Uniondale, New York. The event featured two of the fastest knockouts in promotional history, a fighter who loves involving the judges and the new winningest PFL fighter.

RUSSIAN INVASION: Five Russian fighters competed at this event, and all five emerged victorious.

GOTTA GO FAST: Two different bouts on the card ended in knockouts of less than a minute, joining PFL 7 2018 Regular Season as the only other event to feature multiple sub-minute knockouts.

CRASHING ‘THE PARTY’: By virtue of his being victorious over Alex Gilpin in the main event, Lance Palmer tied Marlon Moraes for the most wins in promotional history with 11. He also extended his record for the most appearances (14) under the World Series of Fighting-PFL banner.

DESTINED FOR ONE ANOTHER: Both Palmer and Andre Harrison earned decision wins, moving into a first-place tie for the most wins on the scorecards in company history with six each.

SNAKE REPELLANT: Nate Andrews went the distance for the second time in his career, as he dropped a decision to Chris Wade. All 15 of his career wins have come by stoppage.

ALWAYS BET THE ‘OVER’: Harrison nullified Peter Petties en route to a decision victory. He has now reached the final bell in 17 of his 22 career bouts, more than 77 percent of the time.

PROHIBITIVE FAVORITE: Season 1 lightweight champion Natan Schulte closed as a massive -2525 favorite over the debuting Yincang Bao (+1285) -- he was the biggest betting favorite of the 2019 season to date -- and promptly dispatched his Chinese opponent via rear-naked choke.

LUCKY LUIS: In taking out Jeremy Kennedy with a head kick and follow-up punches in 23 seconds, Luis Rafael Laurentino picked up the sixth-fastest finish in promotional history.

CAN’T STAY OUT PAST HIS CURFEW: At only 26 years of age, Laurentino earned his 34th victory in his career. He has now finished his opponent in 29 of those 34 wins, 25 of them in the first round. His sole defeat came by second-round knockout in 2016.

THEY DON’T MAKE ’EM LIKE THEY USED TO: The youthful Laurentino went 21-0 with 18 stoppages in 2013. Comparatively, “Japa” won more times in that calendar year than 17 other fighters on this card held in total wins.

MOVLID OR LOSE IT: Movlid Khaybulaev flattened Damon Jackson in 10 seconds with a flying knee to score the fastest finish in WSOF-PFL history.

KHAY-O: Khaybulaev’s flying knee knockout was the sixth in promotional history. Four of the six have taken place during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

I BULAEV I CAN FLY: With his first-round finish, Khaybulaev improved his unbeaten record to 14-0. He has stopped exactly half of his opponents before the final bell. It was the second flying knee knockout of his career, having felled Vladimir Egoyan with the same strike in 2015.

STUMBLING OUT OF THE GATES: Steven Siler lost to Gadzhi Rabadanov by decision and in doing so earned his fourth defeat in the WSOF-PFL cage. This ties him with seven other fighters for the second-most losses in organizational history.

WHAT IS YOUR MALFUNCTION?: Two fighters -- Alexandre Bezerra and Alexandre Almeida -- missed weight, with Bezerra coming in at 155 pounds for a featherweight bout and Almeida missing the featherweight limit by a pound. Both men were scratched from the card, and their respective opponents, Kennedy and Laurentino, were matched against each other at the last minute.

WHAT A PAIN IN THE EYE: Ronys Torres was set to make his return to the company after competing at WSOF 1 in 2012, but the New York State Athletic Commission denied his license due to eye surgery Torres had undergone 10 years prior. As a result, his slated opponent Ramsey Nijem earned three points in a walkover win and was reportedly paid his show and win money.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into the PFL 2 2019 Regular Season, eight fighters had never competed in the United States, Carlos Silva had never been finished (12 fights) and Loik Radzhabov had never been defeated (11 fights).

Sherdog contributing editor Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012 and working for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on twitter at @jaypettry.
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