PFL 7: Playoffs Welterweight & Lightweights - Cooper III vs. MacDonald is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held on August 13, 2021 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood in Hollywood, Florida, United States.
Fight Card
Main Card (ESPN 2)
Welterweight Rory MacDonald vs. Ray Cooper III
Welterweight Sadibou Sy vs. Magomed Magomedkerimov
Lightweight Clay Collard vs. Raush Manfio
Lightweight Loik Radzhabov vs. Alexander Martinez
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
Welterweight Curtis Millender vs. Gleison Tibau
Lightweight Darrell Horcher vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier
Welterweight Tyler Hill vs. Brett Cooper
Welterweight Magomed Umalatov vs. Micah Terrill
Welterweight Kyron Bowen vs. Michael Lombardo
Lightweight Elvin Espinoza vs. Hopeton Stewart
Background
Rory MacDonald and Ray Cooper III will headline the first PFL playoff card, with the Welterweight and Lightweight playoffs holding their semifinal bouts. MacDonald will be making his third appearance with PFL cage, going 1-1 in the regular season, with his most recent outing being a highly controversial decision loss to Gleison Tibau. He’ll take on the former PFL champion Cooper, who was 2-0 during the regular season in 2021. The other welterweight matchup will pit João Zeferino against Magomed Magomedkerimov.
The Lightweight bracker will see UFC and boxing veteran Clay Collard takes on Raush Manfio while Loik Radzhabov and Alexander Martinez will clash in the other lightweight semifinal.
Featured additions included a lightweight contest include two-time PFL champion Natan Schulte (21-4-1) taking on 12-time UFC veteran Olivier Aubin-Mercier (12-5), as well as Swedish PFL vet Sadibou Sy (9-5-2) facing 28-time UFC veteran Gleison Tibau (35-15).
On August 4, it was announced that João Zeferino was out of his Semi-Final match-up against Magomed Magomedkerimov, with #5 ranked Sadibou Sy taking his place. Curtis Millender (replacing Sy) was then scheduled to face Gleison Tibau. Natan Schulte was also announced to have been scratched, with Olivier Aubin-Mercier now fighting Darrell Horcher. Lastly, Nikolay Aleksakhin was removed from his bout against Brett Cooper, with Cooper now facing Tyler Hill.
