The playoffs for the PFL’s 2022 season began on Friday MMA Junkie provided live and official results.
2022 PFL Playoffs 1 took place at Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN+ and ahead of post-lim qualifiers on ESPN+.
Top lightweight seed Anthony Pettis (25-14) faced Stevie Ray (25-10) in an immediate rematch from the regular season. Ray upset Pettis with a submission at 2022 PFL 5, but Pettis still entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
Ray would be victorious yet again, setting up a lightweight final matchup against Olivier Aubin-Mercier (16-5), who defeated Alexander Martinez (10-3) earlier on the main card.
In the light heavyweight semifinals, No. 1 seed Rob Wilkinson (16-2) faced No. 4 Delan Monte (9-3), and No. 2 Omari Akhmedov (24-7-1) met late replacement Josh Silveira (9-1). Wilkinson and Akhmedov would advance, setting up their matchup in the finals for the light heavyweight crown.
2022 PFL Playoffs 1 results include:
MAIN CARD (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET)
- Stevie Ray def. Anthony Pettis via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) – welterweight semifinal
- Omari Akhmedov def. Josh Silveira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – light heavyweight semifinal
- Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Alexander Martinez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26) – welterweight semifinal
- Rob Wilkinson def. Delan Monte via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 1:37 – light heavyweight semifinal
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
- Itso Babulaidze def. Mahmoud Sebie via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:30
- Marthin Hamlet def. Cory Hendricks via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – 2023 light heavyweight qualifier
POSTLIM QUALIFIERS (ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET)
- Marcelo Nunes def. Dylan Potter via submission (arm triangle) – Round 1, 1:47 – 2023 heavyweight qualifier
- Alexei Pergande def. Elvis Lebron-Quiles via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Elvin Espinoza def. Corey Jackson via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) – 2023 Challenger Series qualifier
- Brahyan Zurcher def. Ricardo Jimenez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) – 2023 Challenger Series qualifier
