Brendan Loughnane Leg Kicks Unravel Marlon Moraes in PFL 1 Headliner

Brendan
Loughnane began defense of his Professional Fighters League
featherweight championship in style.

Behind a steady diet of thudding leg kicks, Loughnane broke down
former World Series of Fighting title holder Marlon
Moraes en route to a second-round technical knockout victory in
the PFL 1: 2023 Regular Season headliner at the Theater at Virgin
Hotels in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The Englishman brought the
show to a close at the 1:11 mark of Round 2, earning his fifth
consecutive win in the process.

Loughnane (26-4, 9-1 PFL) had a clear target from the outset of the
bout, and he gradually compromised his opponent’s mobility as time
progressed. Moraes (23-12-1, 0-2 PFL) was in serious danger late in
the first round, when Loughane wobbled him with a right hand before
drawing a grimace with yet another low kick. From that point on, it
was simply a matter of survival for Moraes.

After a conversation with a cageside physician, Moraes elected to
continue into the second round, but his fate had already been
sealed. The Brazilian came out swinging wildly in pursuit of a
finish before Loughnane sent him
tumbling face first to the mat after another crushing low
kick. When Moraes was unable to return to his feet,
referee Keith Peterson mercifully waved off the contest.

Moraes has lost six consecutive fights — all via knockout or
technical knockout.

In the co-main event, defending PFL light heavyweight champion
Rob
Wilkinson adopted a strategic approach to earn a unanimous
decision triumph against former UFC title challenger Thiago
Santos. The Australian garnered a trio of 29-28 scorecards from
the cageside judges for his sixth consecutive victory. Santos
(22-12, 0-1 PFL), meanwhile, has lost six of his last seven
professional outings.

While his run to a PFL championship in 2022 was characterized by
finishes, Wilkinson (18-2, 5-0 PFL) went back to his grappling
roots against a striking-minded foe. “Razor” Rob landed multiple
takedowns, advanced to dominant positions and generally made it
difficult for Santos to have the space he desired during the
fight’s opening 10 minutes. “Marreta” did some of his best work in
Round 3, as he returned to his feet from takedown attempts and
separated from the clinch, which allowed him to land more strikes
of consequence on the feet — including several hard kicks to the
body. Though Wilkinson’s pace slowed and he began to wear the
damage from those attacks, it was too little, too late for the
Brazilian.

Elsewhere, former Bellator talent Will Fleury
held off 17-time UFC veteran Krzysztof
Jotko via split decision in a relatively uneventful light
heavyweight matchup. Judges Mike Bell and
Adelaide Byrd submitted 29-28 tallies for the Irishman, while Sal
D’Amato saw it 29-28 in favor of Jotko.

The larger Fleury (12-3, 2-0 PFL) often dictated the terms of the
bout with forward movement and grueling clinch work, and at range
he enjoyed success landing numerous leg kicks on his Polish
adversary. Jotko (24-7, 0-1 PFL) had his moments as well, as he
countered effectively and landed several takedowns, but it wasn’t
enough to get the nod from the judges in a closely-contested
affair.

Earlier, Movlid
Khaybulaev returned from more than a year-long absence to
cruise past Ryoji Kudo
in a featherweight feature. It was a clean sweep on the scorecards
for the 2021 PFL champion, as he received a trio of identical 30-27
tallies from the cageside judges. The Dagestani fighter has won his
last six professional outings.

Kudo (11-5-1, 1-3 PFL) never had a chance to get out of first gear.
Khaybulaev (20-0-1, 7-0-1 PFL) landed multiple takedowns and relied
on suffocating top pressure on the canvas to wear down his Japanese
opponent. Kudo was unable mount any kind of offense from his back,
and his attempts to return to his feet were brief, at best.

In the opening main card bout, takedowns, positional control and
solid submission defense propelled Bubba
Jenkins past Chris Wade in
a rematch of featherweight contenders. All three judges submitted
30-27 scorecards in favor of the Bellator MMA veteran. Jenkins
(20-6, 6-2 PFL) avenged a previous decision loss to Wade (22-9,
10-6 PFL) in the 2021 playoffs.

While Wade was able to keep Jenkins off balance by initiating
scrambles and threatening with submissions in their first meeting,
the Kings MMA product was rarely threatened by his opponent this
time around. Jenkins grounded Wade in every frame, rarely giving
the Long Island, New York, native any room to operate. Wade’s best
moment occurred in Round 2, when he briefly trapped Jenkins in a
guillotine after being taken down. The former NCAA national
champion wrestler didn’t need long to escape the choke, however,
and he ended that frame threatening back takes and landing
ground-and-pound from above.

In preliminary action: 2021 PFL finalist Marthin
Hamlet (11-4, 5-3 PFL) blitzed ex-Brave Combat Federation
two-division champion Mohammad
Fakhreddine (15-5, 0-1 PFL), earning a submission

via face crank 1:05 into the opening stanza at light
heavyweight. Former two-division Legacy Fighting Alliance champion
Joshua
Silveira (10-1, 2-1 PFL) made quick work of Sam Kei (8-7,
0-2 PFL), securing a tapout
by way of rear-naked choke 2:46 into Round 1 at light
heavyweight; Dana White’s Contender Series alum Alejandro
Flores Garcia (22-4, 3-1 PFL) captured a three-round verdict
(29-28, 29-28, 29-28) against ex-KSW champ Daniel
Torres (14-6-1, 0-1 PFL) at featherweight; recent PFL
Challenger Series winner Gabriel
Braga (10-0, 1-0 PFL) edged two-time UFC vet Jesus
Pinedo (20-6-1, 0-1 PFL) via split decision (28-29, 29-28,
29-28) at featherweight; Elevation Fight Team export Ty Flores
(12-4, 1-0 PFL) pulled away from 2022 postseason participant
Delan
Monte (9-4, 1-3 PFL) for a unanimous decision triumph (29-28,
29-28, 29-27) at light heavyweight and UFC veteran Impa
Kasanganay (12-3, 1-0 PFL) made a successful transition to
light heavyweight, taking a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28,
30-27) over Cory
Hendricks (9-6, 2-3 PFL) in a 205-pound showcase bout.