Taila Santos in victory in PFL 1 2024 (Photo: PFL)
One of the main highlights of the 2024 PFL season, Taila Santos showed his credentials right at his debut. In the first event of the regular season, held last Thursday night (4), the former UFC fighter, with authority, submitted her compatriot Ilara Joanne in a flyweight duel (up to 56,7 kg) and proved herself a strong competitor for the US$ 1 million (approximately R$ 5 million) prize allocated to the tournament champion at the end of the year.
Taila Santos and Ilara Joane started the fight exchanging blows while standing, but, at the first opportunity she had, the Santa Catarina native wasted no time and took her opponent to the ground. Ilara tried to get up, but ended up giving her back to Taila, who didn't take long to lock in a rear naked choke and force three taps from her rival in the first round.
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As a result, Taila Santos recovers from the sequence of two defeats suffered at the end of his time in the UFC, debuts with victory in the PFL and has six points in the regular season of the flyweight tournament.
The leadership of the women's flyweight tournament did not remain with Taila Santos after the end of the first round for three seconds. The Brazilian, who submitted her compatriot Ilara Joanne in 3min57s, appears in second place, behind only Dakota Ditcheva, who took 3min54s to knock out Lisa Mauldin on the main card.
Juliana Velasquez loses to Liz Carmouche for the third time in a row
Liz Carmouche defeated Juliana Velasquez again (Photo: PFL)
The stage changed, but the result was the same. On the main card of PFL 1 2024, Juliana Velasquez and Liz Carmouche faced each other for the third time in a row. The North American, who had won the first two duels by knockout and submission, respectively, this time dominated the Brazilian to win by unanimous decision from the judges (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
With the strategy of looking for a grappling fight, Carmouche ran into Juliana's takedown defense in the first round, which took place practically entirely on the cage. In the final two rounds, however, the North American was successful and dominated the Brazilian to emerge with victory.
With the result, Liz Carmouche added three points in her PFL debut and took fourth place in the flyweight tournament, while Juliana Velasquez was left, without points, in sixth place.
Marcelo Golm starts well, but is knocked out in the last second of the first round
Daniel James knocked out Marcelo Golm (Photo: PFL)
Another Brazilian to debut in the PFL from Bellator, heavyweight (up to 120,2 kg) Marcelo Golm met Daniel James, responsible for his only defeat in the circular cage. At one point the result seemed like it would be different, but it ended up being the same: the North American's victory by technical knockout.
Marcelo Golm had a strong start to the fight, landing good strikes while standing and taking the fight to the ground, where he worked well with ground and pound. With about a minute remaining until the end of the first round, however, James managed to reverse the position, get on top and unleash hard blows on the Brazilian. In the final stretch, Golm ended up on four supports, but stopped reacting to James' blows, forcing the referee to interrupt and declare the technical knockout with just one second remaining.
With the tough defeat, Marcelo Golm was in second-to-last place in the heavyweight tournament. Daniel James, on the other hand, had five points and occupies third place in the tournament, which has Russian Valentin Moldavsky as the leader after one round.
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