Costello van Steenis sent the home fans happy as he knocked out Fabian Edwards to retain the PFL middleweight title.
The middleweight championship rematch headlined Friday’s PFL Madrid card — which served as the first major mixed martial arts event to take place in Spain.
The opening stanza featured a brief exchange that saw von Steenis land a big right hand, before immediately securing double under hooks. They separated with Edwards landing a nice elbow on the break. Edwards would shoot for his own takedown, but would nearly get caught in a guillotine, and the champion ended the round on top.
Edwards chose to continue a grappling strategy in Round 2, and eventually got top position after van Steenis went off-balanced after a kick. Edwards eventually got to the back of Edwards with around two minutes to go in the round. The champ landed punches, while Edwards was warned twice by the referee for grabbing his opponent’s glove. Van Steenis tried a Peruvian neck tie, but slipped up, and Edwards landed some big shots at the close of the round.
As the third round began, Edwards attempted to wrestle again, but after a guillotine attempt failed, Edwards went back to the well and ate some short elbows from the champ, which led to the end of the fight, picking up his second win over Edwards in the process.
AJ McKee overcomes dislocated toe to win decision in co-headliner
In the co-main event, it was a highly-anticipated featherweight contest between former Bellator champ AJ McKee and Adam Borics. McKee looked fantastic in the first round, but ended up dislocating his toe at the end of the round. Borics changed things up into more of a counter-striking game plan in the second, and the action picked up down the stretch, with McKee getting the better of the striking exchanges before forcing a pressure clinch against the fence — but was visibly limping back to his corner.
McKee continued to battle through the pain in the third and continued using his range beautifully. Borics needed to pick up the pace and chose not to, leading to a slick takedown by McKee with just over two minutes left in the fight. McKee overcame one last ditch effort from Borics to win a unanimous decision.
Check out full PFL Madrid results below.
Costello van Steenis def. Fabian Edwards via third-round knockout (1:49)
AJ McKee def. Adam Borics via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)
Franco Tenaglia def. Yassin Najid via second-round TKO (5:00)
Jacinta Austin def. Benita Van Roiij via first-round TKO (2:40)
Linton Vassell def. Jose Augusto via second-round TKO (2:48)
Luciano Pereira def. Kevin Cordero via first-round KO (2:10)
Borja Garcia def. Rafael Calderon via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Gino van Steenis def. Mark Ewen via first-round KO (2:43) | Watch finish
Mattia Giordano def. Ernesto Schisano via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Claudio Pacella def. David Mora via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)
Ignacio Campos def. Mathys Duragrin via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
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