{"id":110943,"date":"2026-08-02T16:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T16:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/110943\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T16:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T16:36:10","slug":"champions-leave-pfl-new-york-at-ubs-arena-victorious-as-mvp-merger-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/110943\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions leave PFL New York at UBS Arena victorious as MVP merger begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Undefeated lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and undefeated women\u2019s flyweight champion Dakota Ditcheva left PFL New York<\/a> at the UBS Arena in Elmont victorious on Friday.<\/p>\n

In the main event, Nurmagomedov extended his unbeaten streak to 22 by defeating No. 1 contender Archie Colgan in the first round via technical knockout. Nurmagomedov, who increased his professional record to 22-0, landed a well-placed head kick against his opponent before using a combination of uppercuts and ground strikes to earn the stoppage victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of sparring with the UFC double champion legend, Islam Makhachev. That\u2019s how you can improve,\u201d Nurmagomedov said<\/a> following the fight.<\/p>\n

After the bout concluded, Nurmagomedov took his gloves off and declared that \u201cthis was my last fight\u201d as a member of the PFL. Still, he mentioned rival promotion, UFC, before exiting the octagon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was my last fight. And MVP their owners, trash-talk a little bit. I call [UFC President Dana White] if it doesn\u2019t pay, then we see how they want to pay,\u201d Nurmagomedov added.<\/p>\n

Ditcheva, on the other hand, made her return to the octagon triumphantly. During the co-main event, she used a combination of striking and wrestling to break down her opponent, former Bellator kickboxing champion Denise Kielholtz.<\/p>\n

Ditcheva retained the title by going all five rounds to secure the unanimous decision victory.\n<\/p>\n

This successful event was only the start of a merger between the PFL and Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) to create a global combat sports platform under the MVP umbrella.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MVP co-founder Jake Paul sat cageside for the event alongside co-founder Nakisa Bidarian and CEO John Martin. Paul, the former YouTuber turned professional boxer and entrepreneur, received large boos from the Long Island crowd when he entered the octagon following Nurmagomedov\u2019s win.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, this is what makes us different. We\u2019re invested in this whole team. This is why we love this sport. This is why we\u2019re backing [Nurmagomedov]. I love the booing. I love the hate. It fuels everything that we\u2019re doing,\u201d Paul said. \u201cThis is the guy. This is the center of attention. [The fans] can be mad at me and boo me, but look at this guy. Channel this energy. Channel this hate. PFL turned into MVP. He\u2019s on a different platform, and he\u2019s the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of Paul, the likes of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and reigning welterweight champion Makhachev attended the event to support Usman Nurmagomedov. PFL interim world champion Johnny Eblen attended the pay-per-view alongside UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, who is Colgan\u2019s training partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the champions took the cage, the fans were treated to consecutive technical knockout victories during the start of the main card from Amru Magomedov and Moustapha Diakhate, who kept their respective unbeaten streaks intact.<\/p>\n

After landing a combination of leg kicks and ground strikes, Magomedov earned a stoppage victory over Angel Alvarez in the second round. Diakhate landed a takedown and multiple strikes to defeat Darryl Walker in the first round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Undefeated lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and undefeated women\u2019s flyweight champion Dakota Ditcheva left PFL New York at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[129],"tags":[38382,307,223,9381],"class_list":["post-110943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ubs","tag-pfl","tag-sports","tag-ubs","tag-ubs-arena"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117026893696832584","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}