Khizriev Takes PFL Lightweight Title in 2024: Fight Recap

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00:00Let's start with the main fight, Lovhnein versus Hizriyev.

00:07Now this was for the featherweight title, Lovhnein former champion back in 2022, a guy

00:11who had his work cut out for him against this dangerous, dangerous Russian Hizriyev, undefeated

00:19and that's pretty much how the fight went.

00:21It was a tough fight for Lovhnein, Hizriyev controlled all five rounds.

00:25He gets the decision.

00:26You know, he got a 49-46 on two cards, 50-45 on one card.

00:31It was a tough fight.

00:32Lovhnein, got to give him credit though for the adversity, battled through all five rounds,

00:35did not get finished, bleeding for about three or four of those rounds, but still, you know,

00:40keeps going, still keeps trying to do his thing.

00:43Got caught a couple of times with some good takedowns, trying to do the spinning back

00:47kicks every time Hizriyev threw those, it was a good shot to Lovhnein, but if Lovhnein

00:52threw those, it ended up in a takedown for his opponent.

00:55So tough stylistically for him there, Hizriyev showing the great wrestling, but what really

00:59impressed of course was his standup.

01:01He was picking his opponent apart just quicker with the jabs, with the short shots, Lovhnein

01:07was bleeding throughout much of the fight and, you know, I went back and watched and

01:09I couldn't really find the spot where, oh, that's the one that landed that cut him open.

01:13No, it was just repeated strikes by his opponent time and time again through the first couple

01:17rounds that, you know, gave him that blood down the face, horror movie look that he fought

01:22through for another three rounds.

01:24And in the end, Hizriyev takes the title and is now the lightweight champion for 2024 for

01:30the PFL.

01:31Great performance by him.

01:32He's a dangerous fighter.

01:33It's going to be interesting to see what is next for him and how people attack this guy

01:37because, you know, he was known as a wrestler when he's Dagestani wrestlers, but when you

01:41show that kind of grit on the feet and the great shots, the quickness, the, you know,

01:47the different attacks, it wasn't just straight rights or one twos or just basic boxing.

01:52Like I said, he was throwing some spinning back kicks.

01:54He was throwing lots of different combinations and different attacks, give you a different

01:58look with every time.

01:59Loughnane struggled with it.

02:01Others might as well.

02:02We will see what 2025 holds for the future champ.

02:05You know, if you watch me on Coast to Coast this past week, I was giving out some picks,

02:09figuring out what we can do.

02:10You know, Hizriyev, of course, was a big favorite, so it was hard to bet him, but he wins that.

02:14We also went Loughnane plus five and a half on the spread on DraftKings.

02:18So that one paid off at least, you know, even though he lost, you get some good victory

02:22there.

02:23Also, co-main event was the women's flyweight title.

02:26Go to Ditcheva versus Tyler Santos.

02:28We talked to Ditcheva a couple of weeks ago.

02:30The undefeated young phenom rising up the ranks, just dropping ladies left and right.

02:34Go against Santos, a longtime vet who has fought for titles in the UFC.

02:38Coming now fighting for the title in the PFL.

02:40A lot more experience, a lot more grit in a lot of people's minds because of what we've

02:44seen from her.

02:45We hadn't seen Ditcheva go deep into a fight.

02:46Could she handle a big, strong grappler like this?

02:50The answer is yes.

02:52And she did it pretty convincingly.

02:54Second round knockout for her as she dropped Santos.

02:56Talked some smack afterwards talking about how Santos was calling her a Barbie, saying

03:01that she wasn't that good, that she was going to put her in her place.

03:04Well, she said, Barbie just beat your butt and threw on some lipstick afterwards.

03:09I mean, it was just a great performance by Ditcheva.

03:13Santos was trying to get her against the cage, maybe rough her up a little bit there, go

03:16for takedowns there.

03:17Ditcheva used great body control, stayed on the feet, picked her apart, and just mixed

03:22up her attacks left and right.

03:24She threw some great, just straight shots to the face.

03:27Then all of a sudden would throw the straight kick to the face and catch Santos with that.

03:30Throw some leg kicks to make her think low, just constantly raising and lowering her eyes

03:35and her point of defense.

03:37Then every time that she brought her hands up, well, let's throw some good knees to the

03:40body.

03:41Ditcheva just kept picking her apart through the first two rounds whenever she got free

03:44of the grappling that Santos was trying to do.

03:47Then in the second round, as you saw there in the video, those body shots, first a big

03:50knee to the body, then two big uppercuts are what end this fight as she finishes Santos.

03:56She doubles her over with the uppercut to the body and then finished her once more.

03:59She is now the PFL women's champion in the flyweight division.

04:05Was the European champion, now the overall flyweight champion, and we'll see what's next

04:09for her.

04:10She gets some pay-per-view fights or what, but she's shown that she is a rising star

04:13for the PFL.

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