It was no fluke when Stevie Ray beat Anthony Pettis in the regular season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Ray (25-10) and Pettis (25-14), who had previously met at PFL 5 in 2022, met again in the 2022 PFL Playoffs 1.
This fight, on the other hand, was for a $1 million reward and a place in the lightweight finals.
It wasn’t a submission finish, but Ray accumulated enough control time and submitted threats on the mat to capture two rounds on the judges’ scorecards, and he earned three 29-28 scores in the unanimous decision win.
Ray will play Olivier Aubin-Mercier in the finals after the judges gave him similar points, so he will face Alexander Martinez in the semi-finals:
- Anthony Pettis vs. Stevie Ray – welterweight semifinal
- Omari Akhmedov def. Josh Silveira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – light heavyweight semifinal
- Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Alexander Martinez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26) – welterweight semifinal
- Rob Wilkinson def. Delan Monte via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 1:37 – light heavyweight semifinal
- Itso Babulaidze def. Mahmoud Sebie via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:30
- Marthin Hamlet def. Cory Hendricks via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – 2023 light heavyweight qualifier
