Renan Ferreira, Denis Goltsov Ticketed for PFL Heavyweight Final

Renan Ferreira operating at peak performance should strike some fear into all of his peers.

The 6-foot-8 Brazilian dispatched Maurice Greene with first-round punches, as their Professional Fighters League heavyweight semifinal served as the PFL 8 headliner on Friday inside The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Ferreira (11-3, 5-1 PFL) slammed the door 4:46 into Round 1.

Greene (11-9, 1-3 PFL) tried to keep his counterpart at bay with leg kicks, but the disparity in talent became more and more evident with each passing moment. Ferreira connected with body-head jabs, crisp low kicks of his own and clean multi-punch combinations. Eventually, he walked Greene into a devastating counter right hand. “The Crochet Boss” folded where he stood and hit the deck, where he was met with a burst of punches that separated him from his senses.

Riding high on the strength of back-to-back victories, Ferreira advances to face Denis Goltsov in the $1,000,000 heavyweight final in November. Goltsov (32-7, 10-2 PFL) disposed of the previously unbeaten Jordan Heiderman with an arm-triangle choke in the first round of their heavyweight semifinal. The former Absolute Championship Berkut titleholder drew the curtain 4:16 into Round 1 and won for the fourth time in as many outings.

Heiderman (7-1, 0-1 PFL) was out of his depth. Goltsov drowned him with jabs, lured him into the clinch and secured a takedown inside the first 90 seconds. Once the bout spilled onto the canvas, it was essentially over. Goltsov bloodied the Nebraskan with brutal ground-and-pound, moved from one dominant position to the next and framed the choke from half guard. From there, his vice-like squeeze left Heiderman no choice but to tap.

It was the 17th first-round finish of Goltsov’s career.

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Meanwhile, Larissa Pacheco took the next step forward in her quest to become a two-division champion, as she buried Olena Kolesnyk with punches in the first round of their women’s featherweight semifinal. Kolesnyk (9-6, 4-4 PFL), who missed weight for the match by nearly two pounds, checked out 14 seconds into Round 1.

Pacheco (22-4, 11-2 PFL) tested the waters with an inside leg kick, then froze the Ukrainian with a surgical straight right. Kolesnyk covered up along the fence, absorbed another crushing right and assumed a seated position at the base of the cage. More punches followed before referee Bryan Miner could arrive on the scene to wave it off. It was a massacre.

Now on an eight-fight tear, Pacheco moves on to meet Marina Mokhnatkina in the $1,000,000 women’s featherweight final in November. Mokhnatkina (11-3, 5-1 PFL) put away Combat Sports Academy product Amber Leibrock with an armbar in the first round of their women’s featherweight semifinal. The six-time World Sambo Championships gold medalist brought it to a close 1:45 into Round 1, where she recorded her fifth consecutive victory.

Leibrock (7-6, 1-2 PFL) never factored into the equation. Mokhnatkina followed her jab into the clinch, executed a trip takedown and went to work from north-south position. She isolated Leibrock’s right arm as she progressed to half guard, then cleared her legs, went belly-down for a brief moment and eventually rolled onto her back to complete the submission.

The 35-year-old Leibrock heads into the offseason on a two-fight losing streak.

In other action, Nathan Kelly (8-2, 3-0 PFL) laid claim to a unanimous decision over Damion Nelson (4-4, 0-1 PFL) in a three-round featherweight tilt, drawing 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 marks from the cageside judges; Danilo Marques (15-5, 3-1 PFL) took a unanimous verdict from Satoshi Ishii (25-13-1, 1-3 PFL) in a three-round heavyweight affair, earning 29-28 scores across the board; and Maira Mazar (9-6, 1-1 PFL) eked out a split decision—28-29, 29-28, 29-28—over Kaytlin Neil (7-5, 0-2 PFL) in a three-round women’s flyweight pairing.