{"id":37332,"date":"2026-03-20T20:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Costello-van-Steenis-leaves-no-doubt-against-Fabian-Edwards-at-PFL-Madrid-200523"},"modified":"2026-03-20T20:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:57:12","slug":"costello-van-steenis-leaves-no-doubt-against-fabian-edwards-at-pfl-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/costello-van-steenis-leaves-no-doubt-against-fabian-edwards-at-pfl-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Costello van Steenis leaves no doubt against Fabian Edwards at PFL Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

The champ is here: Fresh off winning the
\nProfessional Fighters League<\/a> middleweight title via a
\nlast-minute comeback, Costello
\nvan Steenis<\/a> established himself as a true champion with a
\ntechnical knockout of Fabian
\nEdwards<\/a> in the third round (1:48) on Friday at the Vistalegre
\nArena Palace in Madrid, Spain.<\/p>\n

With his countrymen supporting him, van Steenis controlled the bout
\nearly at
\nPFL Madrid<\/a> and outstuck the dangerous Englishmen. As van
\nSteenis (18-3, 3-0 PFL) established his leg kick, Edwards
\nsurprisingly looked to clinch and takedown the champion along the
\nfence. With Edwards stuffed and van Steenis dropping his weight on
\ntop of his back, the Spaniard dropped elbows to the side of The
\nAssassin\u2019s head until Edwards body went limp and was saved by
\nreferee Blake
\nGrice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For Edwards the loss is devastating; van Steenis was the first
\nfighter to beat Edwards nearly six years ago and revenge was on his
\nmind. Edwards won the 2025 PFL middleweight tournament, but van
\nSteenis has clearly established himself as the best middleweight in
\nthe PFL with wins over Edwards and former champion Johnny
\nEblen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A.J.
\nMcKee<\/a> is one of the top talents in the PFL and once again
\nproved his class with a clear decision win over savvy veteran
\nAdam
\nBorics<\/a> (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). McKee (24-2, 3-1 PFL) calmly
\nstayed on the outside and punished Boric\u2019s lead leg with kicks. As
\nBorics stepped in, McKee would step off line and force \u201cThe Kid\u201d to
\nreestablish his footing. McKee was slowed a bit after injuring his
\ntoe at the end of the first round, but the former Bellator
\nMMA<\/a> featherweight champion still had enough in the tank to
\noutclass Borics (20-4, 2-2) on the cards. With the win, McKee put
\nhimself in line for a shot at the vacant featherweight title.<\/p>\n

<\/center>
\n
Former Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship king Franco
\nTenaglia<\/a> notched a win in his PFL debut after submission
\nspecialist Yassin
\nNajid<\/a> was unable to answer the bell before the third round.
\nNajid (9-7, 0-2 PFL) countered Tenaglia\u2019s aggression early and made
\nthe most of his positions on the ground. One round in, and it was
\nclear that despite being the underdog, Najid was there to fight.
\nTenaglia (6-2, 1-0 PFL) obliged and ground Najid down to paste
\nduring the second round. Intense pressure and punishment kept Najid
\non the canvas, fighting for space. As the round came to a close,
\nNajid stumbled back to the corner with a dislocated shoulder and an
\nexhausted look on his face. The fight was stopped between rounds
\ndue to the injury, which had Najid sporting an obviously disfigured
\nshoulder region.<\/p>\n

Jacinta
\nAustin<\/a> left fans stunned in her PFL debut after knocking
\nBenita van
\nRooij<\/a> senseless in the first round of their flyweight feud
\n(2:40). Austin (8-2, 1-0 PFL) has a diverse striking background,
\nhaving competed in boxing and K-1 kickboxing. She showed off her
\nskillset early against the skilled grappler by flowing in and out
\nof range and peppering her with hard shots. Austin would finally
\nput van Rooij (7-2, 0-1 PFL)
\naway with a right hand counter on the money<\/a><\/strong> , and it
\nwouldn\u2019t take long for referee Bryan Miner to call off the
\nonslaught.<\/p>\n

Linton
\nVassell<\/a> made light work of Jose
\nAugusto<\/a> en route to a second round finish (2:48). The English
\nheavyweight hadn\u2019t been seen in the PFL Smartcage since 2024 and
\nlooked rusty in the first round, but quickly picked things up
\nheading into the second. \u201cBig Swarm\u201d drew Augusto\u2019s fire and
\ncountered with a double leg that left the Brazilian on his back.
\nVassell transitioned into full mount and pressed to secure an arm
\ntriangle, but Augusto (11-6, 0-1 PFL) was determined to not be
\nsubmitted. Seeing the opportunity to punish his prey with punches,
\n
\nVassell rained down shots on the flattened out foe<\/a><\/strong>
\nuntil referee Grice intervened. Vassell (26-10, 2-2 PFL) proved
\nthat at 42, he\u2019s still amongst the best heavyweights on the PFL
\nroster.<\/p>\n

Luciano
\nPereira<\/a> exploded on the PFL stage with an electrifying
\nfirst-round knockout over Kevin
\nCordero<\/a> (2:10). At 25, Pereira has already notched 10 knockouts
\non his ledger, and it’s easy to understand why he could be a player
\nin the PFL bantamweight picture. From the opening bell, Pereira
\n(15-1, 1-0 PFL) threw with bad intentions. Coredero walked into
\nrange with his head on the center line, and
\nPereira made him pay with a pair of hooks to the
\ntemple<\/a><\/strong>, laying Cordero (15-6, 0-1 PFL) out flat on the
\ncanvas.<\/p>\n

Borja
\nGarcia Heres<\/a> edged out Rafael
\nCalderon<\/a> (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in flyweight action. In a battle
\nbetween promotional debutants, Calderon and Garcia struggled to
\nfigure each other out, and the fight was primarily a struggle for
\npositioning. Calderon outgrappled Garcia in the opening round, but
\nGarcia clinched his way back into the fight by keeping Calderon
\nlimited along the cage. Garcia worked hard to keep his weight on
\nCalderon\u2019s back, but never pressed the action, electing to spam
\nkicks to the back of the calf. Neither man was impressive, but with
\nthe win, Garcia (7-2, 1-0 PFL) picked up his second straight win
\nand first in the major leagues.<\/p>\n

Gino van
\nSteenis<\/a> was thrilled to fight on the undercard of his older
\nbrother\u2019s world title fight and he made the most of the
\nopportunity. Matched against dangerous lightweight Mark Ewen<\/a>,
\nvan Steenis brought the fans out of their seats with a devastating
\nfirst-round knockout (2:43). Ewen (7-3, 2-3 PFL) is known to be an
\naggressive starter, van but Steenis (8-2, 2-1 PFL)
\nmade him pay with a perfectly-timed right hand<\/a><\/strong> over
\nEwen\u2019s jab midway through the round. The Scot hit the canvas and
\nwas at van Steenis’ mercy until referee Grice was forced to
\nintervene.<\/p>\n

Spanish featherweight Mattia
\nGiordano<\/a> had his hands full early with the hard-charging
\nErnesto
\nSchisano<\/a>, but showcased excellent movement and fluid striking
\nen route to the decision win (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). Schisano (5-2,
\n0-1 PFL) came into his PFL debut off a brutal first-round TKO and
\npressed the lanky Giordano from the start. Giordano used his
\nheight, reach and lateral movement to float around the cage and
\nfight in spurts, picking apart Schisano’s high guard. As the fight
\nwore on, Giordano (5-2, 1-0 PFL) separated himself with volume and
\naccuracy. With the win, Girodano notched his third-straight
\nwin.<\/p>\n

Claudio
\nPacella<\/a> was on the short end of a split decision loss in his
\nlast fight, but dominantly took the win Friday against David Mora<\/a>
\nin 165-pound catchweight action. Pacella mauled and bullied Mora
\n(10-7, 0-1 PFL), limiting the PFL debutant\u2019s offense and forcing
\nhim to carry his weight all fight. Pacella (7-3, 4-2 PFL) would\u2019ve
\nloved to press for the finish, but settled for a lopsided decision
\nwin (30-27, 30-26, 30-27).<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s Nacho
\nCampos<\/a> defended home soil with a hard-fought unanimous decision
\nwin (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Mathys
\nDuragrin<\/a> in the opening bout. Campos (7-2, 1-1 PFL) opened the
\ncatchweight match with a dominant first round. He ragdolled the
\nFrenchman, pursued submissions, and nearly finished Duragrin with a
\ngut-wrenching knee to the body. Duragrin (4-3, 0-2 PFL) displayed
\nhis heart and fought his way back into the contest, but Campos was
\ntoo strong. The win puts Campos back in the win column after
\nsuffering a knockout loss in his last outing. Duragrin dropped his
\nthird straight. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The champ is here: Fresh off winning the Professional Fighters League middleweight title via a last-minute comeback, Costello van Steenis established himself as a true champion with a technical knockout of Fabian Edwards in the third round (1:48) on Friday at the Vistalegre Arena Palace in Madrid, Spain. With his countrymen supporting him, van Steenis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}