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Brett Okamoto, Editor of ESPN
ATLANTA — Sadibou Sy just continues to assert himself as the man who can be beaten in the PFL welterweight division – and looks really good doing it.
Sy (15-6-2) earned his spot in the PFL’s 2023 knockout round on Friday, with a knock-out kick with a striking spin header first. Shane Mitchell at PFL 6 inside the Overtime Elite Arena. The win marks his sixth in a row and he is looking to repeat the championship in 2022.
The Swedish kickboxer will enter the knockout stages this year as the 3rd seed, but with the clear air of a 1st seed. He has eliminated both of his opponents this year. His knockout on Friday came in the second half of a match where he was ready to run away. Mitchell went down, and the fight stopped without a further shot.
Sy will face the 2nd seed Carlos Lealwho is eliminated? Dilano Taylor on Friday, in the semi-finals. Sy beat Leal (19-4) via unanimous decision in last year’s playoffs. former champion Magomed Magomedkerimov (32-6) is the 1st seed of the welterweight category thanks to the quick finish david zawada on Friday. He will face Magomed Umalatov in the semi-finals.
Light Olivier Aubin-Mercier (19-5), another PFL champion from 2022, also qualified for the 2023 knockout round with a third-round record of Anthony Romero on Friday’s main event. The match was abandoned in the second half after Aubin-Mercier landed a devastating knee on Romero’s chin along the fence.
Aubin-Mercier won the 2nd seed and will face another former PFL champion in Natan Schulte (25-5-1), who chooses the decisive goal Raush Manfio in a strange fight pitting two best friends against each other. fan favorite clay collar (23-10) will seek his first PFL championship as the No. 1 seed. He will face Bruno Miranda (16-3) into the semi-finals.
Shane Burgos (16-4), a major acquisition of PFL in 2022, won first Yamato Nishikawa on Friday but failed to make it to the knockout stages. It is unclear if Burgos will rematch in 2023 as he has missed the PFL’s post-season period. He lost decisively to Aubin-Mercier in the opening round of the regular season in April.
