Jason Jackson dominates Ray Cooper III, picks up second-straight knockout victory at PFL vs Bellator

We’ve got a big day of fights coming to us today, February 24, 2023, where PFL vs Bellator came to us live from the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just before The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us for UFC Mexico City later in the evening.

Headlining PFL vs Bellator is a heavyweight affair between 2023 PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira (12-3, 3 NC) and Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader (31-7, 1 NC).

Co-headlining the bout is a middleweight showdown between 2023 PFL light-heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay (15-3) and Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen (14-0).

Our feature fight of the evening came at a catchweight of 182 lbs between 2019 and 2021 PFL welterweight champion Ray Cooper III (25-10-1) and current Bellator welterweight champion Jason Jackson (18-4).

Jackson was originally slated to face another two-time PFL welterweight champion today, 2018 and 2023’s tournament winner Magomed Magomedkerimov. However, Magomedkerimov was forced from the bout last month with an injury and was replaced by Cooper.

Cooper had gone 7-2 since 2019 with wins over the likes of Chris Curtis (KO), former Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald (UD), and former PFL welterweight champion Magomed Magomedkerimov (KO).

Jackson on the other hand came in on a seven-fight win streak showcasing victories over former WEC and UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson (UD), Paul Daley (UD), one of the most dangerous strikes in MMA history, former multi-time Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima (UD), and former Bellator welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov (KO), and who he took the Bellator 170 lb title from this past November.

Continue reading to see how our PFL vs Bellator feature fight of the evening went down:

Official Result: Jason Jackson def. Ray Cooper III via TKO (leg kick & punches) at :23 of round two

Jackson looks great in the early goings of the contest, landing a heavy calf kick about two minutes in that badly hurts the lead leg of Cooper. He then secures a takedown midway through the opening round, remaining on top and reigning down vicious elbows as the round came to a close.

Jackson drops Cooper with another nasty leg kick early in the second, following it up with heavy punches for the stoppage victory over PFL’s former two-time welterweight champion.

Click here to view finish.

Jason Jackson has become a true force in the welterweight division.

Though this fight went down at 182 lbs, they’re both natural welterweights, and since Jackson’s heavily disputed split decision defeat to Ed Ruth in 2019 he’s now won eight-straight fights and only lost one single round out of them all, which includes him stopping the previously 27-0 Yaroslav Amosov, following it up with his second-straight knockout win today at PFL vs Bellator. What a talent.

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Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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