Ante Delija Foils Maurice Greene’s Heavyweight Playoff Bid in PFL 5 Headliner

Ante
Delija made sure someone would be there to keep him company on
the outside looking in when the
Professional Fighters League playoffs start in August.

The Mirko
Filipovic protégé bounced back from a tepid start to outstrike
and outgrapple Maurice
Greene to a unanimous decision across three rounds in the

PFL 5 headliner on Friday at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta.
All three cageside judges scored it 29-28 for Delija (24-5, 8-2
PFL).

Greene (11-8, 1-2 UFC) did his best work in Round 1, where he
stalled the Croatian in the clinch, kneed the legs and secured a
takedown. Momentum, as it often does, proved fleeting. Delija found
his rhythm in the middle stanza, where he engaged his 36-year-old
counterpart at close range, fed him a steady diet of power punches
and applied merciless pressure. Greene failed to alter the
narrative down the stretch. Delija executed a takedown midway
through the third round and dialed up just enough ground-and-pound
to avoid a restart, ensuring neither man would qualify for the 2023
PFL playoffs.

Meanwhile, Larissa
Pacheco took the shock-and-awe approach in the women’s
featherweight co-main event, where she dismissed Amber
Leibrock with
punches less than a minute into the first round.
Pacheco (21-4, 10-2 PFL) sealed the deal 0:45 into Round 1 and
secured the No. 1 seed at 145 pounds in the PFL playoffs.

Leibrock (7-5, 1-1 PFL), who qualified for a postseason berth
despite the defeat, could do nothing to keep the aggressive,
heavy-handed Brazilian at bay. Pacheco bottled up the Combat Sports
Academy along the fence and let the punches fly. Leibrock escaped
for a time but could find no refuge inside the cage. More Pacheco
punches found their mark, and the stoppage was called soon
after.

Pacheco has rattled off eight consecutive victories.

Elsewhere, American Top Team export Renan
Ferreira wrecked Matheus
Scheffel with
punches in the first round of their heavyweight
attraction. Ferreira (10-4, 4-2 PFL) brought it to an
emphatic close 50 seconds into Round 1 and reserved his seat at the
2023 PFL playoff table.

Scheffel (17-5, 2-3 PFL) never stood a chance. Armed with a
six-inch height and 10-inch reach advantage, Ferreira uncorked a
hellacious one-two and pushed the CM System rep to the fence.
Scheffel flurried in a bid to save himself, only to be met with
power punches from both hands. A left hook folded him at the base
of the cage, and the 6-foot-8 Ferreira mopped up what was left with
a hammerfist.

Ferreira has now authored four sub-minute finishes as a pro.

Further down the card, Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran
Aspen
Ladd dispatched Karolina
Sobek with
an armbar in the second round of their women’s featherweight
feature. Sobek (4-2, 0-2 PFL) bowed out 4:57 into
Round 2.

Ladd (11-4, 2-1 PFL) survived a near-finish in the first round and
rallied to turn the tide in her favor with timely takedowns,
positional control and a frustrating clinch. Late in the middle
stanza, she took down Sobek, climbed to full mount and positioned
herself for a topside armbar. The Pole fought valiantly to free
herself, but Ladd pried her adversary’s hands apart, activated her
hips and refused to be denied.

It was Ladd’s first submission victory since Sept. 12, 2015, but it
was not enough to keep her from being eliminated from playoff
contention.

Finally, Biaggio
Ali Walsh—the 24-year-old grandson of the late Muhammad Ali—cut
down Travell
Miller with
punches in the first round of their amateur lightweight
showcase. Walsh drew the curtain 1:27 into Round 1,
forcing referee Rob Hinds to intervene.

In other action, Denis
Goltsov (31-7, 9-2 PFL) clinched the No. 1 seed in the
heavyweight playoffs with a sensational knockout of Yorgan De
Castro (9-5, 1-1 PFL), as
a surgical right cross brought their encounter to a close 18
seconds into the first round; Marina
Mokhnatkina (10-3, 4-1 PFL) nailed down a playoff spot with a
unanimous decision over Evelyn
Martins (5-1, 3-1 PFL) in their three-round women’s
featherweight battle, earning 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 scores from
the cageside judges; Jordan
Heiderman (7-0, 1-0 PFL) was awarded a technical knockout and
emerged as perhaps the unlikeliest of playoff entrants when
Patrick
Brady (5-1, 0-1 PFL)
suffered a fight-ending knee injury 2:26 into the first round of
their heavyweight affair; Olena
Kolesnyk (9-5, 4-3 PFL) took a unanimous decision from Yoko
Higashi (8-4, 0-2 PFL) in a three-round women’s featherweight
tilt, drawing 30-27 marks from all three judges to secure her spot
in the playoffs; Marcelo
Nunes (10-2, 3-1 PFL) buried Danilo
Marques (14-5, 2-1 PFL)
with punches 3:40 into the first round of their heavyweight
scrap and tossed his name in the postseason hat;
Julia
Budd (17-6, 2-3 PFL) outpointed Martina
Jindrova (6-5, 3-3 PFL) to a unanimous decision—29-28, 29-28,
29-28—in a three-round women’s featherweight clash; and Isaiah
Pinson (3-0, 2-0 PFL) eked out a split decision—28-29, 29-28,
29-28—over Denzel
Freeman (4-1, 1-1 PFL) in a three-round heavyweight pairing.