Lewis McGrillen needed one round and one well-timed jump to turn the opening fight of the PFL Dubai main card into the loudest moment of his career. The British bantamweight dropped a leaping knee on PFL MENA champion Nawras Abzakh in the closing seconds of the first frame on Saturday at Coca-Cola Arena, and when the bell sounded, Abzakh couldn’t make the walk back to his corner. The referee waved it off. Officially it goes down as a stoppage at 5:00 of Round 1, listed by Yahoo Sports as a KO by retirement and by MMA Fighting as a TKO.
The PFL posted the finish on X as it happened, writing that McGrillen landed a knee to end the fight and calling it a hell of a way to start the main card. Yahoo Sports framed the result as a warning shot to the rest of the PFL’s 135-pound roster, and the way the round unfolded backs that up.
How it happened
Abzakh came in as a regional champion with a 15-7 record and a plan built around getting McGrillen down. He kept shooting. According to Yahoo Sports, McGrillen had to fight off several takedown attempts across the five minutes, staying upright and patient while the MENA titleholder spent energy chasing his hips. Then, with the round nearly gone and Abzakh probably thinking about his stool, McGrillen left his feet and buckled him with the knee. MMA Fighting described the fight simply as a one-round beatdown.
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The win moves McGrillen to 14-2. Abzakh falls to 15-7.
There was a famous face cageside, too. Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer, a fellow Mancunian, was in the building, and McGrillen paid him back by hitting Palmer’s signature “cold” goal celebration after the stoppage. For a fighter from Manchester, getting to do that bit in front of the guy who made it famous is about as good as a Saturday night gets.
The rest of the division had a busy night
McGrillen wasn’t the only bantamweight who left Dubai with a statement. Later on the main card, Joji Goto beat former UFC flyweight contender Sergio Pettis by unanimous decision, sweeping all three cards 30-27. That gives the PFL two bantamweights coming off the same event with wins over recognizable names.
The headliner went the other way from what the odds suggested, with Sergei Bilostenniy (16-4) taking the heavyweight title from Vadim Nemkov by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47). Patrick Habirora choked out Omar El Dafrawy at 3:11 of Round 1 in the co-main and asked new PFL CEO Nakisa Bidarian for a crack at welterweight champion Thad Jean.
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No next opponent has been announced for McGrillen.
My take: the part of this fight that should worry the bantamweights isn’t the knee, flashy as it was. It’s the four minutes and change before it, when a regional champion who wanted a wrestling match couldn’t get one, and McGrillen stayed calm enough to wait for his moment instead of forcing it. Goto just went 15 minutes clean against Pettis. Put those two together early next year and the PFL finds out fast whether McGrillen’s patience holds up against someone who won’t hand him the horn.
