The Professional Fighter’s League (PFL) returned to Texas for its first event of the 2024 season. With a stacked 12-fight MMA card featuring the Heavyweights and Women’s Flyweights of PFL and former Bellator fighters, the night delivered knockouts, barnburners, and memories that will go down in PFL history.
Valentin Moldavsky vs. Ante Delija
In the main event, Croatian Ante Delija met Russian Valentin Moldavsky. The heavyweights stalked each other out the gate, measuring the timing before they seemed to mutually agree to slug it out! Delija operated on the back foot looking to counter but former interim Bellator Heavyweight Champion Moldavsky showed excellent combos with speed to match. Moldavsky eventually found a right hand that crushed Delija, leaving him shelled up against the cage. Moldavsky followed up with some powerful knees to Delija’s guard and a few punches to cap off the first-round knockout raising to 13-3 with 2 knockouts.
Denis Goltsov vs. Linton Vassell
In the co-main event, Russia’s Denis Goltsov defeated England’s Linton Vassell. Vassell, a long-time MMA veteran of now 40 fights, got off to a strong start in the bout. He pressed the action and mounted Goltsov before landing some solid ground and pound strikes. After surviving the compromised position and returning to his stool, and re-assessed the task at hand. Goltsov went on to dominate Vassell in the second and third rounds as Vassell emptied the tank in the opening round. With full control and top position over Vassell, Goltsov landed several unanswered strikes to his opponent’s temple, forcing the referee to – finally – stop the fight. Goltsov now holds a professional record of 32-8 with 15 knockouts.
Dakota Ditcheva vs. Lisa Mauldin
Women’s Flyweight Dakota Ditcheva also made a statement to kick off the PFL main card. Ditcheva entered the fight a massive favorite over Lisa Mauldin and proved the oddsmakers correct. Ditcheva opened the fight immediately pressuring Mauldin and landed a couple of hard low kicks that left visual effects on Mauldin’s lead leg right away. Mauldin would go on to land a takedown – but Ditcheva scrambled to her feet almost immediately before getting right back to work and working her combinations. She began working the body of Mauldin which had an immediate effect and crumbled Mauldin shortly afterwards earning a first-round knockout in just under 4 minutes. The victory marked her 6th straight stoppage victory and she improved to a perfect 11-0 record with 9 knockouts.
PFL San Antonio joins a long list of successful action-packed PFL events. With the acquisition of Bellator fighters, their top-tier production, and their unique season format, PFL is prime to challenge the UFC as the premier organization in MMA in the coming years.
PFL 1 San Antonio 2024 Full Fight Results
Valentin Moldavsky (13-3 2KO) def. Ante Delija (24-6 10KO) via KO rd 1- Heavyweight
Denis Goltsov (33-8 16KO) def. Linton Vassell (24-9 10KO) via TKO rd 3 – Heavyweight
Liz Carmouche (20-7 9KO) def. Juliana Velasquez (12-3 4KO) via unanimous decision – Women’s Flyweight
Dakota Ditcheva (11-0 9KO) def. Lisa Mauldin (6-4 1KO) via KO rd 1 – Women’s Flyweight
Daniel James (15-7 10KO) def. Marcelo Golm (10-5 7KO) via TKO rd 1 – Heavyweight
Sergey Bilostenniy (12-3 8KO) def. Blagoy Ivanov (19-7 7KO) via unanimous – Heavyweight
Taila Santos (20-3 10KO) def. Ilara Joanne (11-9 4KO) via submission rd 1 – Women’s Flyweight
Oleg Popov (17-1 9KO) def. Steve Mowry via TKO rd 2 – Heavyweight
Kana Watanabe (13-2-1 3KO) def. Shanna Young (9-6 2KO) via unanimous decision – Women’s Flyweight
Jena Bishop (7-0) def. Chelsea Hackett (4-2-1 1KO) via submission rd 1 – Women’s Flyweight
Dimitre Ivy (12-7 3KO) def. Lucas Brennan (9-1 2KO) via unanimous decision- Featherweight
Bryce Meredith (6-0 2KO) def. Ty Johnson (13-7 1KO) via unanimous decision – Bantamweight
