HOLLYWOOD — Russian lightweight Gadzhi Rabadanov knocked out Canadian Michael (The Canadian Badass) Dufort in spectacular fashion Friday to move into the Professional Fighters League lightweight final.
Rabadanov (23-4-1) floored Dufort with a nasty left hook and then hit him nine more times on the ground before referee Chris Mignocchi stepped in one minute 51 seconds into the second round of the 155-pound semifinal.
The second-seeded Russian will face No. 1 Brent Primus in the final, with the 155-pound title and a US$1-million cheque on the line.
"Dufort is a very nice guy," Rabadanov said in English. "Much respect."
Unlike other mixed martial arts promotions, the PFL schedule incorporates a regular season and playoffs with fighters awarded points for wins and finishes.
Dufort (13-6-0) was hoping to follow in the footsteps of friend and training partner Olivier (The Canadian Gangster) Aubin-Mercier, who retired a two-time PFL lightweight champion. The 30-year-old from Montreal was in Aubin-Mercier's corner for both title wins.
Dufort was effective with his jab in the first round Friday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Rabadanov took him down with 90 seconds remaining in the round, but the Russian soon found himself having to fight off an attempted choke.
Dufort clinched Rabadanov at the fence at the start of the second round. When they separated, the Russian ended the bout with the hammer-like left.
Rabadanov has won nine straight — including three victories in the PFL and four in Bellator — since a December 2022 loss to France's Mehdi Dakaev on an Eagle Fighting Championship card in Moscow.
Both Dufort and Rabadanov have trained with championship-calibre talent, albeit of the retired variety — Dufort with Aubin-Mercier and former UFC two-division champion Georges St-Pierre and Rabadanov with former UFC lightweight titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov. Both St-Pierre and Nurmagomedov are in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Dufort submitted Mads Burnell in April in his opening fight of the PFL season, forcing the Dane to tap to a guillotine choke 63 seconds into the second round.
Dufort's playoff hopes were left up in the air in June after a split-decision loss (28-29, 28-29, 29-28) to American Adam (The Bomb) Piccolotti at PFL 5 in Salt Lake City, a bout most observers thought the Canadian had won.
Other results that night went Dufort's way and the Canadian secured a playoff berth as the third seed against Rabadanov.
His other PFL win came in March 2022 on the PFL Challengers circuit. Dufort followed that with three straight wins outside the promotion before returning for the 2024 season.
Primus (15-3-0 with one no contest) won a unanimous (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) decision over No. 4 (Cassius) Clay Collard (25-14-0 with one contest) in the other lightweight semifinal Friday, an all-American matchup.
Collard, 31, was appearing in his third PFL semifinal. He was runner-up to Aubin-Mercier last year.
Primus, a former Bellator 155-pound champion, finished both his regular-season opponents and dominated Collard.
The 39-year-old Primus spent most of the fight on Collard's back, attached like a leach. Collard was unable to get his striking game going until midway through the third round, and only for a short while until Primus took him down again.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2024
The Canadian Press
