Featherweight BATTLE! | Movlid Khaybulaev v Jeremy Kennedy | Full Fight | PFL WT 1

A 2021 PFL featherweight champion against a man who's been chasing belts at the highest level of mixed martial arts for nearly his entire career in Jeremy Kennedy. Huge fight. Here's a look at the tail to take for this featherweight bout. Jeremy Kennedy, 32 years of age. Elite HyperLive is 34. You can see Kennedy very tall for this weight class as I mentioned. Not a huge reach advantage though. Only one inch favoring Kennedy here. All right, keys to victory time. So for Jeremy Kennedy, counter left hook. He's got a wicked left hook you've got to be very cautious of. Pressure to the fence and body lock takedowns. For Khabib Aliyev, body punches, counter wrestling and then control and strike. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a first round matchup in the featherweight division of the PFL World Tournament. Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner with an undefeated record of 21, 0 and 1. Fighting out of Dagestan, Russia, weighing in at 145 and one half pounds, Mowgli Killer Khabib Aliyev. And his opponent across the cage in the red corner with a record of 19 wins against just five defeats. Fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. He tipped the scales at 145 and three quarter pounds. Jeremy J.B.C. Kennedy. The referee for this matchup, Keith Peterson. Mowgli Khabib Aliyev is in the dark trunks. Jeremy Kennedy is in the light trunks. Russia versus Canada. Touch of the gloves, two featherweights underway. Kennedy shows an inside leg kick. I rattled off that list of training partners from Mowgli Khabib Aliyev. He has the Dagestani wrestling, but he's also got that explosive and creative striking style like Usman Namagomedov and Umar Namagomedov. Nice pressure by Kennedy, keeping him on his back foot, keeping Khabib Aliyev backing up. Khabib Aliyev, looks so surprised. Kennedy did a great job of not allowing himself to get thrown there. Settled his hips in, applied Kennedy's hips right to the back of Khabib Aliyev's hips and took that power away from him. Eric Miksic in the corner of Jeremy Kennedy asking him to back out and strike. Yeah, we're going to see that elbow coming over the top in a minute. Oh, legs went. I believe Khabib Aliyev finding himself in some trouble early, just over a minute gone in the first round. Kennedy looking for a little Metzger here, seeing his hand come through and trying to capture the hips of Khabib Aliyev. A little work to the midsection from Kennedy. Double overhooks now for Khabib Aliyev. And he tries a knee, doesn't quite get to the chin of Movlid Khabib Aliyev. Yeah, I think two times now Kennedy's had Movlid hurt. Anytime he can create some space for strike, all that elbow. Nice rip to the body. Khabib Aliyev, blood trickling from the nose, looks over to his corner, that includes Magomed Magomed Karamov, a two-time welterweight champion in the PFL. Body lock attempt here by Khabib Aliyev, get the elbow under. Nice counter, re-pull-up by Jeremy Kennedy. Every time Movlid digs that left underhook in, that was a foul. Gorgeous elbow from Kennedy, and Khabib Aliyev swinging with some desperation. He tries a leaping knee, wasn't able to lunge far enough to make it land. Kennedy back into this tight quarters position here. Here we go, look, Khabib Aliyev with the left underhook again, he's available for the elbow again. Every time he digs that underhook, there's no defense on that side. Kennedy uses that left shoulder, pops his head up and swings that right elbow through. That will land. There it is again, and again from Kennedy. Very, very nice tactics inside here by Jeremy Kennedy. We have never seen Movlid Khabib Aliyev in this situation. 21-0 with one no contest. Head kick attempt there for Khabib Aliyev. They do call him killer for a reason, but he is in serious trouble in this first round. He does not have his legs under him. That nose might be broken. He keeps pawing at it, and it is bleeding severely. Finally, a right hand might have snuck through. Nice patience by Kennedy, not smothering his foot, just staying in range, picking his shots. That was a good low kick as well. Tactically picking Movlid Khabib Aliyev off. This is one of the best rounds of Jeremy Kennedy's career. Big takedown, lift, and down. Khabib Aliyev looks tired here. He looks really out of sorts. This is not usual for him. Well, out of sorts, I was going to use that phrase. People do not realize how much more fatigued you feel when there is no confidence and when you are being reactive and you are getting hit. Khabib Aliyev has got a gas tank for days, but we have never seen him like this. Never had him on his back foot. Exactly. Letting somebody else lead the dance and reacting to somebody else, it really... Round two next. Takedownshop.com is home to the number one fight short in the world, worn by PFL professionals. Scan to get a Takedown t-shirt for free. Brought to you by Takedown, official apparel partner of the PFL. Jeremy Kennedy will lead Khabib Aliyev. Khabib Aliyev in the dark trunks, Kennedy in the light. Beautiful round for Kennedy in the first. Came into this fight a massive bedding underdog. I would love to see the live ops. Could almost give that a 10-8 round for Kennedy in that first round. You had Khabib Aliyev wobbled several times, nasty elbows. Taekyun Kim in the first bout of the evening secured a victory via rear naked choke. He will face the winner of this bout in the semifinal coming up in June. EFL World Tournament action here in Orlando, Florida. I'm Sean O'Connell. That's Dan Hardy and Randy Couture. John is a coachman. Ian Parker and Kennedy Smith all in the building with us. This is the first bout of our main card. Beautiful check hook from Kennedy as he's retreating. We've never seen Movlid Khabib Aliyev so discombobulated. Randy, I asked you about ring rust. Is that what we're seeing? I mean, it's so hard to say, but there's not a lot of real explanation. We've never seen him be dominated in any round like he was in the first round of this fight. Maybe Khabib Aliyev looked at the odds and just realized he was supposed to win and didn't really switch on those first couple of seconds. Jeremy Kennedy knew he was the underdog and he came out and put it on his opponent straight away. Sorry, Dan. We saw one takedown in round number one, and that came from Jeremy Kennedy, Movlid Khabib Aliyev. He's got dominant wrestling, but he hasn't tried a shot yet. He has not tried to use it to this point. Kennedy really good at using his range as well. He's forcing Movlid to fight well, which doesn't suit him. And look at that swelling behind the ear of Movlid Khabib Aliyev. That right hand wobbled Kennedy. The big knee. Who's now on top and elbowing the side of Jeremy Kennedy's head. Kennedy's trying to pick it up. That was a vicious right hand by Khabib Aliyev. That was vicious. Kennedy able to work back to his feet here. Now the knee again from Khabib Aliyev and an elbow. Another from the Russian. Good head movement here from Kennedy. Lands a right hand there. Blood now from the hairline of Jeremy Kennedy. Halfway through round number two. Swinging back and forth like a pendulum is the momentum of this fight. Kennedy looking over to his corner and loving. He's listening to them. Pulls the legs out of Kennedy. And that's going to give Khabib Aliyev confidence. Looking for that seat belt. Trapping that wrist of Jeremy Kennedy and looking to drive his hips over that. The Russian contingent here at Universal Studios chanting Movlid. Who settles into some control here. And we know what the formula of this Dagestani wrestling is. Elevate your opponent's legs. Put them on a shelf. Don't let them connect their feet to the mat so they can work back up. Try to get a handcuff on one wrist. Look at this knee though. Look how he's pinning Kennedy's leg down. That's very clever. A little shin ride on that bottom leg of Jeremy Kennedy. Now he's got a shelf. Kennedy trying to build up here. Man, Khabib Aliyev on that leg again. Very, very clever work. Khabib Aliyev reaches across to control the right wrist of Jeremy Kennedy. He's trying to get a wrist ride there and push Jeremy Kennedy's body weight over that bottom arm. It makes it very difficult for Jeremy Kennedy to get any elevation and find his way up from here. Kennedy's going to get quarter position and stand. Nice job. Got to watch the knees here. Chopping elbow from Khabib Aliyev. Under 30 seconds now in the second round. Khabib Aliyev looked like he was considering some belly to back. Maybe a suplex there. Thought better of it. Works on the left leg of Jeremy Kennedy instead. Final few seconds of this second frame. Eric Nixon just said, Got a lot of the hunt in. And he's 10 right. I do love it. That's Jeremy Kennedy. Opposite him, both lead Khabib Aliyev. Randy, around a piece. Around a piece. And was that first round a 10-8 for Jeremy Kennedy. Sir, are you ready? Fight! Both men have been in trouble in this fight. Both men have been on the brink of a finish in this fight. Five more minutes. Kennedy trying to work behind a jab to stay long. Mowgli tried the left hand to the body. Sharp knee on the inside. Kennedy working that midsection with good knees. Jeremy now trading places with Mowgli. Puts Mowgli against the fence. I wonder if we're going to see some more elbows in this position. Live odds have swung back in the favor of Mowgli Khabib Aliyev. Minus 620 favor. He started this fight minus 700 plus. Mowgli doing a nice job of trading places now with Kennedy. Trying to get to the legs. Underhooks used by Kennedy to pull Mowgli back further. He's got to watch hanging his head there. That knee could come off. So that first round was the best of Jeremy Kennedy's career. Was it the worst of Aliyev's? He's done a great job of recovery for sure. I mean, even off the stool before round two, he looked like he was not feeling good about things. And then the big right hand changed it all. A lot of blood now around the back of Jeremy Kennedy. With Kennedy turned to prevent something Khabib Aliyev was trying to do as he changed legs. And in doing so, gave his back up in the standing position to Khabib Aliyev. And how many rounds, how many minutes in the world of Mixed Martial Arts have we seen someone from that Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov camp in this exact spot? Arresting an opponent against the cage. Controlling their hips, controlling their body. Jeremy Kennedy able to reverse it though. Kennedy coming back now. Trading places with Aliyev. Trying to sweep that foot out. He's got that left elbow on the top side of Khabib Aliyev's block. Now Khabib Aliyev trading places with him. Back and forth they go. Got down onto the legs temporarily. Knee to the thigh. Trans ground elbow from Kennedy. As Khabib Aliyev's hip got a little out of position. Jason Jackson looking on. One half of our main event tonight. Good work by Kennedy to get his hips away. Controlling the hands. By beautiful, by both guys. Takedown attempt by Kennedy and Malik shrugs it off. Randy, it's cliche to say that these guys have dug deep. They have. But whatever. Absolute basement of the human soul there. Pulling this kind of energy from incredible. I like that. We're going to see this elbow again. I feel like it's coming. Yeah, he's got to figure out how to create that space and rip that groove. He's got the body lock now though. Can he get this trip? That's what Nixon's calling for in the corner. Final minute of this featherweight semifinal. Excuse me, quarterfinal contest. Winner will move on to face Taekyun Kim in the semifinal in June. BFL World Tournament action in 2025. Featherweights and welterweights fight here in Orlando, Florida. It's a hard match to score. Kennedy giving no order here. I have a lie of asking none. Last 10 seconds. What a great fight. Final few seconds. Mowgli is able to shrug under and get to the back. And we go to the judges scorecards. Let's take a look at these post-fight stats brought to you by Element. A lot of these numbers favoring Mowgli. Haibulaev, a takedown apiece. Greg Hamilton has the official decision. Ladies and gentlemen, after three hard-fought rounds, we go to the judges scorecards. Suleyman Miranda scores the fight 29-28 in favor of Kennedy. Jason Grenier scores the fight 29-28 in favor of Haibulaev. And Michael Tate scores the fight 29-28. Your winner by split decision, moving on to the semifinals of the PFL World Tournament, Mowgli Killer!