Fabian Edwards Conquers PFL World Tournament with a Spectacular KO
Fabian Edwards, former Bellator MMA champion, achieved an impressive knockout over Dalton Rosta in the third round of the PFL World Tournament final. The strike, a left head kick, recalled the knockout that his brother, Leon Edwards, delivered to win a UFC championship three years ago.
Edwards (16-4) connected the head kick at 1:28 of the third round, leaving Rosta (11-2) with no chance to recover. The similarity to Leon’s blow to Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 on August 20, 2022 was notable.
The middleweight fight was the main event of the PFL event in Hollywood, Florida.
The victory awarded 32-year-old Edwards the $500,000 prize from the PFL tournament and served as redemption after his two failed attempts at the Bellator championship. Edwards competed against Johnny Eblen in 2023 and 2024, losing by TKO and decision respectively. He overcame several takedowns by Rosta in the first two rounds, achieving his sixth knockout victory.
The Thursday event featured three PFL World Championship finals.
In heavyweight, Oleg Popov (22-2), a student of MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko, defeated Alexander Romanov (19-4) by split decision, obtaining his first PFL tournament championship. Popov reached the final of last year’s “regular season” championship, losing by submission to Denis Goltsov in the first round.
In the light heavyweight division, Antonio Carlos Jr. (19-6) secured his second PFL tournament championship by submitting Sullivan Cauley (8-1) in the second round. Carlos Jr. was considered the underdog, and Cauley had his moments. Both light heavyweights achieved takedowns in the first round, and Cauley suffered a serious cut in the second before being finished on the ground.
