Why PFL’s Ray Cooper III Sees Red for Rory MacDonald

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Professional Fighters League’s 2021 Regular Season started with the best outcome possible for Ray Cooper III (21-7-1, 8-2-1 PFL). The PFL 2019 welterweight champion dusted off his gloves to score an arm-triangle choke submission victory at the expense of Jason Ponet, who tapped 83 seconds into the opening round. After securing six points, “Bradda Boy” turned his attention to the PFL 2 headliner, which saw Ultimate Fighting Championship vet and Bellator MMA 170-pound champion Rory MacDonald submit Curtis Millender with ease.

“It was a little bit irritating,” he said when asked if he was bothered that a promotional newcomer headlined the event, and he, the 2019 champion, was relegated to the co-main event spot. “I understand where they’re coming from. He is a veteran in the sport, he fought for the UFC title, he was a contender, he was a champion in Bellator, so I guess he has much more experience than me and he had been in a lot of big fights. Business-wise, it was all right but when it comes down to it, I’m the main event every time I fight. It doesn’t matter if he’s going to be a fight before me because, sooner or later, me and him is going to match up, and it’s going to be a bad night for him.”

“Bradda Boy,” who will face Nikolay Aleksakhin on June 17 at PFL 2021 5, also talked about getting back in the cage after being forced to take a year off due to the COVID-19 situation, the finish of his fight with Ponet, and much more.

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog begun in 2018 and now he covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @Tudor_leo.