Twelve-Bout Professional Fighters League Card Gets Greenlight After 24 Fighters Make Weight Ahead Of PFL6

RAY COOPER III AND PAVLO KUSCH MAIN EVENT IS SET FOR PFL6; KAYLA HARRISON RETURNS TO ACTION LIVE FROM OCEANS RESORT CASINO IN ATLANTIC CITY

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Professional Fighters League

Aug 15, 2018, 17:02 ET

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., Aug. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- This afternoon, the elite fighters slated to compete at PFL6 weighed-in ahead of Thursday night's highly-anticipated event. The sixth installment of the 2018 PFL regular season will take place tomorrow, August 16, at Oceans Resort Casino. PFL6 will continue the road to the October playoffs for the league's welterweight and middleweight fighters. The 11 regular season fights will feature fighters competing with the hope of clinching a berth in the post-season where they will have the chance to claim a piece of the $10 million prize pool and a championship title.

A high-stakes welterweight showdown between Hawaii's Ray Cooper III and Ukraine's Pavlo Kusch will headline PFL6 after both men tipped the scales under the limit at Wednesday's weigh-ins. Both fighters were unexpected winners at PFL3 in July and they are ready to duel to see who will take up the mantle of the favorite heading into the 2018 PFL Playoffs. Cooper finished MMA legend Jake Shields in emphatic fashion while Kusch is coming of a stunning upset stoppage of Abubakar Nurmagomedov.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison – the only American ever to win gold in Olympic Judo – returns to the cage to face PFL newcomer Jozette Cotton in a special lightweight attraction. Harrison, who began her transition from Judo to MMA with an impressive submission win at PFL2 in June, will return to action for her second bout against another much more experienced opponent. Cotton is 8-1 in MMA and will be looking to score the upset over the heavily favored Harrison.

Both Shields and Nurmagomedov will be fighting for their playoff lives Thursday night. With zero points on their ledgers, the two pre-season favorites in the welterweight division will need wins, perhaps by stoppage, to make the 2018 PFL Playoffs. It will be a tense and action-packed night at PFL6.

"This is it for a lot of these guys," said PFL President of Fighting Operations Ray Sefo. "It is win-or-go-home time for the welterweights and middleweights. I know I can't wait to see the action and see who is going to make the playoffs and have a chance to win $1 million. This is what we were looking forward to when we came up with this format, everything is on the line every time our guys get in the cage."

Viewers in the United States will be able to watch the last five fights of the evening on NBC Sports Network beginning at 10 p.m. ET. MMA fans worldwide will be able to view the first fights of the night, beginning at 7 p.m. ET, on Facebook Watch. International viewers will be able to watch the entire card, from start to finish, via Facebook Watch.

Official Weights:

Ray Cooper III (169.4) vs. Pavlo Kusch (169.8)
Magomed Magomedkerimov (170.2) vs. Bojan Velickovic (170.2)
Kayla Harrison (155.8) vs. Jozette Cotton (155.2)
Abubakar Nurmagomedov (170.4) vs. Jonatan Westin (170.2)
Zoao Zeferino (170.4) vs. Yuri Villefort (171)
Rick Story (171) vs. Carlton Minus (170)
Jake Shields (170.8) vs. Herman Terrado (170.8)
John Howard (185.8) vs. Bruno Santos (185.4)
Abus Magomedov (185.6) vs. Anderson Goncalves (185.6)
Shamil Gamzatov (185.8) vs. Rex Harris (185.2)
Louis Taylor (185.4) vs. Andre Lobato (185.4)
Gasan Umalatov (186) vs. Eddie Gordon (185.4)

About Professional Fighters League™

The Professional Fighters League presents MMA for the first time in the sport format where individuals compete in a regular season, "win-or-go-home" post-season, and championship. Co-founded by Donn Davis, Russ Ramsey, and Mark Leschly, the Professional Fighters League is backed by an ownership group of sports, media, and business titans. The PFL 2018 Season has 72 fighters in six weight-classes, competing in the regular season on Thursday nights in June, July, and August. The top eight in each weight-class face off in single-elimination playoff fights on Saturday nights in October and the PFL season concludes December 31 with six championship bouts back-to-back with a $10 million prize pool. Watch the entire PFL season action beginning June 7 live on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), Facebook Watch, and www.PFLmma.com. For more visit www.PFLmma.com.

SOURCE Professional Fighters League