Rory MacDonald came within a round of being UFC welterweight champion. He later did win a Bellator championship. And on Thursday night, he will begin a quest to capture the PFL welterweight championship and the $1 million prize that comes with it — and it’ll take four fights to get there.
MacDonald (21-6-1), a 31-year-old fighting out of Montreal, faces fellow UFC and Bellator alum Curtis Millender in the main event of the second PFL event of the 2021 season. The eight-fight card at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, opens the season for welterweights and light heavyweights.
MacDonald challenged Robbie Lawler for the UFC belt in 2015 and was ahead on the scorecards before being knocked out in the fifth round of a classic fight. MacDonald won the Bellator title in 2018, defeating Douglas Lima, who regained the championship in a rematch in 2019.
Ray Cooper III (20-7-1), the 2019 PFL champion, fights promotional newcomer Jason Ponet (20-12-1) in the co-main event of the evening.
Also on the card is the 2019 PFL season’s light heavyweight champ, Emiliano Sordi (22-8). The Argentine faces Chris Camozzi (25-14), who will be making his PFL debut after having competed in the UFC.
Light heavyweight note: Due to Vinny Magalhaes’ issue with making weight, he had one point deducted from his season total. Jordan Young, his scheduled opponent, received 3 points for a walkthrough.
Welterweight: Sadibou Sy (8-5-2, 2-3-2 in PFL) vs. Nikolay Aleksakhin (26-5, 0-0 in PFL)
Fight in progress …
Light heavyweight: Marthin Hamlet (5 points) def. Dan Spohn (0 points) by second-round technical submission
Fifteen seconds, then five seconds. That’s how long it took Hamlet to get a takedown in each of the first two rounds of the opening bout of PFL 2 against Spohn.
After the first takedown, he spent the rest of the round — the last 4:55 — on top of Spohn, landing short punches but nothing that did significant damage. Hamlet appeared content to just maintain his controlling position.
In Round 2, however, the 29-year-old from Norway got right to work after his early takedown, quickly securing an arm-triangle choke. That rendered Spohn unconscious at 52 seconds of the round, giving Hamlet (7-1) a 5-point victory in his PFL debut.
Spohn (18-8), who is 36 and from Columbus, Ohio, never got going, suffering his third straight loss.
Still to come at PFL 2 …
ESPN2, 9 p.m. ET
Rory MacDonald vs. Curtis Millender | Welterweight
Ray Cooper III vs. Jason Ponet | Welterweight
Joao Zeferino vs. Gleison Tibau | Welterweight
Emiliano Sordi vs. Chris Camozzi | Light heavyweight
ESPN+ (underway)
Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Tom Lawlor | Light heavyweight
Cezar Ferreira vs. Nick Roehrick | Light heavyweight
*The welterweight fight between Magomed Magomedkerimov and Aleksei Kunchenko will take place at PFL 3, on May 6.