PFL 9 (2023)

PFL 9 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Professional Fighters League that took place on August 23, 2023, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States. This will mark off the playoffs for the Lightweight and Welterweight divisions.

PFL 9
The poster for PFL 9
Promotion	Professional Fighters League
Date	August 23, 2023
Venue	The Theater at Madison Square Garden
City	New York City, New York, United States
Event chronology
PFL 8 PFL 9 PFL Europe 3

Main article: 2023 in Professional Fighters League

Background

The event was headlined by a lightweight playoff bout between Clay Collard facing off against Shane Burgos in an attempt to reach the lightweight final.

Magomed Magomedkerimov was originally scheduled to face Magomed Umalatov at this event. However, Umalatov withdrew from the bout and was replaced by Solomon Renfro.

At weigh-ins, Carlos Leal weighed in at 172 pounds, 1 pound over the Welterweight limit. Leal was fined 20 percent of his purse, which went to his opponent Sy, and started the bout with a one point subtraction. Caldone weighed in at 148.6 pounds, 2.6 pounds over the Featherweight limit, leading him to being fined 20% of his purse which went to his opponent Grimard.

Results

Main card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Lightweight	Clay Collard	def.	Shane Burgos	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Lightweight	Olivier Aubin-Mercier	def.	Bruno Miranda	TKO (punches)	2	4:41
Welterweight	Sadibou Sy	def.	Carlos Leal	Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Welterweight	Magomed Magomedkerimov	def.	Solomon Renfro	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00
Lightweight	Biaggio Ali Walsh	def.	Ed Davis	TKO (punches)	2	2:23
Preliminary card (ESPN+)
Featherweight	Alexei Pergande	def.	Shawn Stefanelli	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00
Middleweight	Mostafa Rashed Neda	def.	Korey Kuppe	TKO (punches)	1	1:55
Women's Featherweight	Michelle Montague	def.	Abigail Montes	Submission (rear-naked choke)	2	3:38
Featherweight	Abdullah Al-Qahtani	def.	David Zelner	Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–26, 30–25)	3	5:00
Featherweight	John Caldone	def.	Nathaniel Grimard	TKO (punches)	1	2:32

Playoff brackets

2023 PFL Lightweight playoffs

	Semifinals					Finals
	1	Clay Collard	UD
	4	Shane Burgos	3
						1	Clay Collard
						2	Olivier Aubin-Mercier
	2	Olivier Aubin-Mercier	TKO
	3	Bruno Miranda	2

2023 PFL Welterweight playoffs

	Semifinals					Finals
	1	Magomed Magomedkerimov	UD
	5	Solomon Renfro	3
						1	Magomed Magomedkerimov
						3	Sadibou Sy
	2	Carlos Leal	3
	3	Sadibou Sy	SD

Legend

(SD)		(Split Decision)
(UD)		(Unanimous Decision)
(MD)		(Majority Decision)
SUB		Submission
(T)KO		(Technical) Knock Out
L		Loss

See also

• List of PFL events
• List of current PFL fighters