2 seed, putting him in a semifinal matchup with 2019 season champion Ray Cooper III — one of three former champions who made the playoffs after Thursday night opened with their spots in question.
There were odd moments throughout the night, including a round in which referee Vitor Ribeiro allowed Sordi to land dozens of unanswered punches, many of which were to the back of the head.
He led the dance the whole way, using smooth footwork to get out of the way of every home-run bomb Tibau launched his way.
Cooper secured an opportunity to defend his 2019 PFL welterweight championship, but he did not make it easy on himself.
It was a grueling three rounds with a lot of give and take, especially in a Round 1 that played out evenly.
His bout with Spohn ended in a 28-28 draw on all three scorecards, and the 1 point each man earned gives Sordi 4 points for the season — the same amount that Cory Hendricks had earned earlier in the evening with a third-round submission of playoff-bound Marthin Hamlet.
However, the story of Round 1 was not either fighter, but rather referee Vitor Ribeiro, who missed two clashes of heads and then allowed Sordi to land approximately a hundred unanswered blows while on the ground — a good third of which connected to the back of Spohn’s head.
Camozzi put on a strong performance and got his hand raised Thursday night, but a decision win was not good enough to put him in the playoffs.
As for Ferreira , he is in the playoffs on the strength of 5 points earned in a first-round knockout in his season-opening bout.
He dominated the last two rounds, especially the second, in which he dropped Ferreira, who hails from Brazil, with a left hook.
One came in with 15 submission wins in his MMA career, the other nine tapouts.
After an exchange of Carlos Junior punches and Magalhaes leg kicks, the two finally engaged in grappling, clinched against the cage.
Magalhaes dropped to fetal position and remained there, even after a doctor was brought into the cage.
After Hendricks’ win secured Carlos Junior a playoff spot, the point put Carlos Junior ahead of Cezar Ferreira in the race for the No.
Hamlet entered the night in good position to advance to the playoffs, after earning 5 points from his season-opening finish in April.
Hendricks, fighting for the first time this season in the PFL, dropped Hamlet with a leg kick midway through Round 3.
That earned Hendricks 4 points.
He then got hurt by Ponet’s punches and had to switch to survival mode for half of the first round, before recovering and picking up the pace in the closing moments of Round 1.
Zeferino , a 35-year-old from Brazil, struggled against the better striker in Round 1 but made Round 2 all his.
The 2018 season champion saw his 2019 playoffs come to a premature end when he fell ill between his two scheduled fights, forcing him to pull out ahead of the semifinals.
But he was able to get Millender to the canvas and immediately set up an Ezekiel choke, which elicited the tapout at 1:57.
The last time Lawlor won a fight, he was competing in a prelim fight on a card headlined by TJ Dillashaw title defense during Dillashaw’s first of two reigns with the UFC bantamweight belt.
He didn’t get the finish, which would have come in handy for his playoff pursuit, but Lawlor earned the nod of all three judges by 30-27 scores for 3 points.
Young, who is 26 and fights out of Coconut Creek, Florida, has lost two in a row after starting his career 11-0.
Sy was a winner in the opening fight of PFL 5, and maybe not a winner.
But the 3 points that Sy earned for his effort give him just 4 for the season, following a no contest in his opening bout that netted him just 1 point.
Sy’s best shot at a finish came in the second round, when he used a 1-2 to stagger Kunchenko, followed by another 1-2 to put Kunchenko on the canvas.
Kunchenko, who is 37 and from Russia, lost his third fight in a row after starting his career 20-0.