PFL opened its 2021 season Friday with a main card filled with upsets.
The three biggest favorites on the entire card – all with odds of 4-1 or higher – went down to unanimous decisions at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J.
In the main event, former UFC and WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis (24-11), who was -600 at BetMGM, was at times brutalized by underdog Clay Collard (19-8) before a third-round rally. But it wasn’t enough, and Collard picked up three points in the lightweight season standings against Pettis, who was one of the PFL’s most highly touted signings of the past year.
In addition, two different two-time PFL $1 million season winners fell in upsets. Marcin Held (27-7) took a unanimous decision from two-time lightweight season winner Natan Schulte (20-4-1) in the co-feature. And to open the main card, Bubba Jenkins (15-4) dominated two-time featherweight season winner Lance Palmer (22-4) to snap his 11-fight winning streak. Both Schulte and Palmer were 4-1 favorites.
Check out the highlights from 2021 PFL 1, which featured fights in the lightweight and featherweight divisions, in the video above.
