Brendan Loughnane Returns to Form at PFL Chicago

PFL 3: 2024 Regular Season at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago saw Brendan Loughnane return to the win column with a co-main event stoppage victory.

The 2022 featherweight tournament champion finished Bellator veteran Pedro Carvalho via TKO at 1:26 in the first round. After the fight, Loughnane reflected on his journey back to the cage following a first round knockout loss to the future 2023 PFL Tournament Champion Jesus Pinedo in June of 2023. 

“I had to battle a lot of my own demons to get back in there,” Loughnane said. “Imagine, right? I worked my whole life to get a belt, and then I got financially free with the money, and then I got knocked out. So it’s like, you have to kind of gauge what you’re doing it for at that point.” 

The Manchester native found the stoppage following a right straight which dropped Carvalho. Loughnane swarmed for the finish, and referee Kevin MacDonald stopped the fight arguably a moment early, which the fans and Carvalho protested. 

This was Loughnane’s first fight since PFL acquired rival promotion Bellator and its roster of fighters. Carvalho was among them, and previously challenged for the Bellator featherweight belt against long-standing champion Patrício ‘Pitbull’ Freire in 2020. 

Loughnane was on a 5-fight win streak before losing to Pinedo, including the million dollar tournament victory. The loss was a hit to his confidence and took momentum from his career.

“I wanted to do it to prove to everyone here and prove to myself that you can come back from a knockout,” Loughnane said. “You can come back from adversity. And I’m so happy that I did, I’m so happy that I went back to training, and I’ll follow my dream further.”

At age 34, Loughnane is no longer a young featherweight, but feels he’s only now hitting his prime. “Guess what? We’re only at chapter two or three,” he said. “Brendan’s got absolutely loads of miles in the tank, and I can’t wait to show yous what’s next.”

In the main event, undefeated welterweight Magomed Umalatov took home a unanimous decision victory over former Bellator champion Andrey Koreshkov. 

Earlier in the night, welterweight Shamil Musaev made an emphatic PFL debut with a TKO win over former Bellator champion Logan Storley. Featherweight Gabriel Braga found a dramatic one-punch knockout over Justin Gonzales, and dedicated his victory to his recently-killed father and coach. 

On the preliminary card, Timur Khizriev defeated veteran Brett Johns, and former UFC featherweight Don Madge secured a standing rear naked choke. Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira and Glover Teixeira made an appearance to corner Laureano Staropoli, less than a week removed from Pereira’s title defense at UFC 300.

The PFL Regular Season will continue on June 13 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, where the heavyweight and women’s flyweight divisions will take center stage.