Fight Facts: PFL 1 2019 Regular Season

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Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS: 493
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 50

The Professional Fighters League on Thursday in Uniondale, New York, started its 2019 season with the debut of the women’s lightweight division and the return of the welterweights. PFL 1 2019 Regular Season featured the second-fastest knockout in company history, a born finisher who keeps doing what he loves best and the winningest female fighter in the PFL cage.

NICE ROUND NUMBER: PFL 1 2019 Regular Season marked the 50th event for the World Series of Fighting-PFL. In 2018, the organization held more shows (11) than any other in the company’s six-and a half-year history.

THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA: Although the originally scheduled main event between Louis Taylor and Chris Curtis was scratched from this card, the Kayla Harrison-Larissa Pacheco replacement marked the first time in promotional history in which female fighters headlined a WSOF-PFL event.

HOW TO BUILD A DIVISION: Four bouts were contested in the women’s lightweight division, the most in that division at any event in major MMA organizational history.

BOOKIES KNOW THEIR STUFF: All four fighters who closed as -500 betting favorites or above won at this event, with Ray Cooper III (-610), Magomed Magomedkerimov (-1050), Harrison (-1700) and Sarah Kaufman (-1750) all securing victories. The only recorded betting upset on the card came when Glaico Franca (+175) beat Gamzat Khiramagomedov (-225).

CHARTING NEW TERRITORY: The headlining bout between Harrison and Pacheco went the distance, and it was the first time in either woman’s career where she reached the scorecards. The two had only fought into the third round three times combined.

KILLER KAYLA: After prevailing by judges’ verdict, Harrison now holds the most wins and appearances in WSOF-PFL women’s divisional history with four each.

COOPER COLLECTOR: Cooper tapped Zane Kamaka in the second round. In all 18 of his wins, the Hawaiian has finished his opponent, all within two rounds. Cooper has only gone the distance once in his 23-fight career and has now fought beyond the first round six times.

LUDICROUS SPEED: By submitting Kamaka with a rear-naked choke in Round 2, Cooper earned his fifth stoppage under the WSOF-PFL banner, tying him with five other fighters for the third-most finishes in company history. Only Marlon Moraes (seven) and Justin Gaethje (nine) hold more.

MADE IT LOOK EASY: Kaufman was the only member of the women’s lightweight bracket to finish her opponent. With her first-round arm-triangle choke of Morgan Frier in the books, she finds herself in first place with six points.

A NEW WRINKLE: Kaufman’s last two wins -- the first-round tapout of Frier and a third-round rear-naked choke of Katharina Lehner at Invicta Fighting Championships 29 -- have come by submission. Those wins were the first and second submissions of her nearly 13-year career.

FOR BAS: Sadibou Sy put down David Michaud with a liver kick in just 17 seconds, scoring the second-fastest finish in WSOF-PFL history. Only Emiliano Sordi’s 16-second one-punch knockout of Jason Butcher at PFL 7 2018 Regular Season came quicker.

GO FOR THE GUT: Sy’s body kick knockout was just the fourth of its kind in promotional history.

ONE BAD BOBBI: By beating Genah Fabian by decision, Bobbi Jo Dalziel improved her unbeaten record to 5-0, with three of those wins by stoppage.

A BALANCED ‘BRAZILIAN ZOMBIE’: After tapping Khiramagomedov in the first round to score the upset, 18 of Franca’s 20 victories have now come by stoppage. He holds nine wins by knockout with another nine by submission.

THE QUEST FOR THE BONUS POINT: By scoring a knockout over Andre Fialho at 4:17 of the third round, Curtis picked up the fifth-latest stoppage in a three-round WSOF-PFL bout.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into the PFL 1 2019 Regular Season, Pacheco had never lost on the scorecards (13 fights), Frier had never been submitted (five fights) and Khiramagomedov had never been defeated (seven fights).

Sherdog contributing editor Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012 and working for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on twitter at @jaypettry.