NEW YORK – Newly crowned PFL champion Ray Cooper III has his eyes on the newest addition to promotion’s roster.
Rory MacDonald signed with the PFL two weeks ago. When asked at Tuesday’s post-fight news conference about MacDonald, Cooper (20-7-1 MMA, 7-2-1 PFL) said he’d like to fight him to get one back for fellow Hawaiian B.J. Penn.
MacDonald (21-6-1) beat Penn by unanimous decision in their 2012 meeting at UFC on FOX 5.
“He’s a veteran in the sport. He’s got a win over BJ Penn, one of my boys, and I’d like to get him back on that,” Cooper said. “If I fight him first, I’ll fight him first. I’ll fight him whenever. I’m ready for him.”
Cooper came up short in the 2018 PFL playoffs, but returned this year and realized his dream when he took out David Michaud with a brutal left hook to the body in the second round Tuesday night at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York to win the welterweight playoffs and $1 million.
After a successful first round, Cooper wasn’t able to get the fight to the ground and ate a few hard shots on the feet from Michaud, which wobbled him. But Cooper eventually was able to take Michaud down, and as Michaud was making his way back up, Cooper went back to the body to deliver the fight-ending blow.
Cooper said going to the body wasn’t necessarily his plan of attack, despite knowing that Michaud has struggled with a rib injury in the past.
“I just went in to try to take him out, hit him as hard as I can,” Cooper said. “It’s a fight. You can get caught in all places, and it’s going to hurt, and I just tried to blast him as hard as I can.”
Cooper said he was happy to turn things around this year, but already is focused on next season.
“I came close last year. It feels good, but I’m looking to win multiple titles in multiple years, so this is just a first step. Next year is going to be even harder, so I’ve just got to keep training hard and wait for what the future (holds).”
