{"id":37796,"date":"2026-04-16T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/JayJay-Wilson-lays-waste-to-unbeaten-Darragh-Kelly-in-PFL-Belfast-headliner-200856"},"modified":"2026-04-16T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T22:57:12","slug":"jay-jay-wilson-lays-waste-to-unbeaten-darragh-kelly-in-pfl-belfast-headliner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/jay-jay-wilson-lays-waste-to-unbeaten-darragh-kelly-in-pfl-belfast-headliner\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay-Jay Wilson lays waste to unbeaten Darragh Kelly in PFL Belfast headliner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

This time, it was Darragh
\nKelly<\/a> who got mauled.<\/p>\n

Taking over for Paul Hughes<\/a>
\nin the
\nPFL Belfast<\/a> main attraction, Kelly (9-1, 2-1 PFL) put his
\nflawless record on the line in a dangerous lightweight outing
\nagainst Jay-Jay
\nWilson<\/a> (12-2, 2-1 PFL). Kelly may not have closed as the
\nbetting favorite, as lines moved quite closely coming into fight
\nnight, but he was the favored man at the SSE Arena in Belfast,
\nNorthern Ireland. Fans were on the side of the \u201cMoville Mauler\u201d
\nfrom the get-go, even with Wilson attempting to win the crowd over
\nwith his walkout of Neil Diamond\u2019s singalong \u201cSweet Caroline.\u201d All
\nthat proved for naught when Wilson
\nsmashed Kelly in the ribs with his shin and knocked Kelly into
\nunconscious with his left hand<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

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

The main event for Professional Fighters League<\/a>\u2019s second trip to
\nNorthern Ireland did not end quite as successfully for local
\naudiences as their first, when the aforementioned Hughes smashed
\nhis foe in 42 seconds. Wilson proudly served as the spoiler by
\ncoming out of his corner guns blazing, unafraid of the lossless foe
\nstanding across the cage from him. \u201cThe Maori Kid\u201d established his
\nrange and speed early, putting combinations behind his jabs as he
\nflowed into his preferred distance.<\/p>\n

After tripling up on his jab, Wilson swayed the counters and
\ndelivered a clean body kick that ripped into Kelly\u2019s abdomen. A
\nsplit-second later, Wilson fired off a perfect left hook that put
\nthe Irishman down on the mat. The Kiwi jackhammered down a pair of
\nsleep-inducing hammerfists that shut Kelly\u2019s lights completely
\nwhile also stripping away his flawless record. Referee \u201cBig\u201d John
\nMcCarthy sprung into action to separate the two a cool 37 seconds
\ninto the match.<\/p>\n

Donned with a cape of feathers, Wilson called his shot directly:
\nAlfie
\nDavis<\/a> in June at the rumored PFL San Diego event.

<\/center>
While betting odds were on the wider side in favor of the former
\nCage Warriors champ, Rhys McKee<\/a>
\n(15-7-1, 1-0 PFL) had his hands more than full with fellow PFL
\nnewcomer Alex Lohore<\/a>
\n(26-12, 0-1 PFL). The action appeared tied going into the third
\nround, only for McKee to show he had more left in the tank as he
\nengaged his grappling to shut down Lohore in the later stages of
\nthe bout.<\/p>\n

The two men collided at 176 pounds due to the late nature of it
\ncoming together, and that weighed in the advantage of the Irishman,
\nwho ended up picking up a workmanlike decision. It took a big right
\nhand behind the ear from \u201cSkeletor\u201d to put Lohore down, where McKee
\nproceeded to wrap up and threaten Lohore with chokes and thwart off
\nscrambles until time expired.<\/p>\n

McKee, who jumped on top of the cage after the final bell to
\ncelebrate his expected win, secured the first decision victory of
\nhis career thanks to a trio of 30-27 scores on his side.<\/p>\n

By the skin of his teeth, Dovletdzhan
\nYagshimuradov<\/a> (26-8-1, 5-1 PFL) held on to win the narrow
\ndecision over hard-charging PFL debutant Tyson Pedro<\/a>
\n(10-6, 1-0 PFL). The light heavyweight duel appeared fairly
\nstraightforward as Yagshimuradov controlled the cage for the first
\n10 minutes thanks to his diverse striking arsenal. Whether
\nthreatening with a spinning strike of some variety, a standing hook
\nkick or any number of unorthodox attacks for a 205er, the Turkmen
\nkept Pedro guessing for two rounds.<\/p>\n

It was not until Round 3 when Pedro sprung to life, in hopes of
\nkeeping his 100% finish rate intact as he inflicted damage to and
\nnearly stopped the 2024 light heavyweight tourney victor a few
\ntimes. Yagshimuradov survived the onslaught\u2014and Pedro may have
\nprematurely emptied his gas tank\u2014and put the Aussie on his back to
\ninflict punishment with ground-and-pound as time expired.<\/p>\n

When the dust settled, Yagshimuradov convinced all three judges
\nthat his work in the first two rounds proved insurmountable,
\nawarding him the unanimous decision nod.<\/p>\n

Eoin
\nSheridan<\/a> remains unbeaten atop action-packed prelim slate<\/h2>\n

A competitive welterweight tilt capped off the violent prelims,
\nwhere the sole American on the billing squared off against a local
\nundefeated favorite. Chris Mixan<\/a>
\n(7-3, 3-1 PFL), repping both his home state of Florida as well as
\nUkraine, battled 6-foot-5 gangly striker Eoin
\nSheridan<\/a> (5-0, 3-0 PFL) for three tough rounds. Each man had
\nsomething to celebrate at fight\u2019s end, with Mixan\u2019s pocket boxing
\nand late ground control stacked up against Sheridan\u2019s powerful low
\nkicks.

<\/p>\n
\n

It’s been a thriller so far…<\/p>\n

ROUND 3 STARTS NOW!#PFLBelfast<\/a>
\n| Thursday , April 16th | SSE Arena | Belfast, N. Ireland | LIVE
\nNOW on ESPN App | Main Card 7PM EST | ESPN 2 pic.twitter.com\/3OlOCCskBD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 PFL (@PFLMMA)
\nApril 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center>
\n
The first two rounds proved to be quite close, but it was Sheridan
\nwho did enough to earn the nod on all three judges\u2019 tallies of
\n29-28. Sheridan blunted the shorter man with his debilitating leg
\nkicks, keeping it close in the first and knocking Mixan to his seat
\na few times in the second round. While Mixan controlled much of the
\nfinal frame by taking the tall man down and working him over, it
\nwas not enough to get his hand raised.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s Sheridan notched his fifth win as a professional, calling
\nfor another match against ranked opposition in his next time
\nout.<\/p>\n

<\/center>
\n
In earlier preliminary action, Caolan
\nLoughran<\/a> (11-3, 1-1 PFL) easily handled Alan
\nPhilpott<\/a> (21-18, 1 NC; 0-2 PFL) with a
\nneck crank 71 seconds into their bout<\/a><\/strong>, recording his
\nfirst PFL victory in a featherweight pairing; Omran
\nChaaban<\/a> (10-1, 1-0 PFL) dispatched fellow 170er Chequina
\nNoso Pedro<\/a> (10-5, 1-2 PFL) with a
\nflush knee to the jaw<\/a><\/strong> and finished the job with his
\nfists to procure the TKO stoppage at 4:16 of Round 2; Liverpool\u2019s
\nDean
\nGarnett<\/a> (15-4-1, 3-2 PFL) flatlined a then-undefeated Ciaran
\nClarke<\/a> (10-1, 0-1 PFL) with a
\nthunderous spinning back elbow and follow-up punches<\/a><\/strong>,
\nrendering the Irish bantamweight unconscious 1:52 into the opening
\nperiod; Pedro
\nCarvalho<\/a> (15-10, 1-2 PFL) put himself on his first win streak
\nsince 2019 by taking everything Sergio
\nCossio<\/a> (19-12-1, 1-3 PFL) threw at him and giving it back in
\nspades in their 165 catchweight bout, with \u201cThe Game\u201d winning two
\nof three rounds on all three cards to pick up the unanimous
\nverdict; welterweight newcomer David
\nMartinez<\/a> (17-6, 1-0 PFL) fought through adversity to tap
\nGiannis
\nBachar<\/a> (9-4, 0-2 PFL)
\n53 seconds into the second stanza with a rear-naked
\nchoke<\/a><\/strong>; courtesy of a pair of knockdowns, Sean Gauci<\/a>
\n(11-1, 1-0 PFL) outdueled a frenetic Liam
\nGittins<\/a> (13-6, 1 NC; 0-2 PFL) in a high-intensity, high-volume
\nbrawl to pick up two 30-27 scores and one of 29-28 all in his
\nfavor; Eoghan
\nMasoliver<\/a> (2-0, 1-0 PFL)
\nsnatched up a standing rear-naked choke<\/a><\/strong> just 1:55 into
\nthe opening frame to hand fellow bantamweight neophyte Shane
\nMullen<\/a> (1-1, 0-1 PFL) his first pro defeat; 2024 PFL flyweight
\ntourney entrant Chelsea
\nHackett<\/a> (5-3-1, 2-2 PFL) picked up her first win in years by
\ndropping and ultimately outpointing Andrea
\nVazquez<\/a> (8-3, 0-1 PFL) with three matching scores of 30-27 in
\nthe event opener. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This time, it was Darragh Kelly who got mauled. Taking over for Paul Hughes in the PFL Belfast main attraction, Kelly (9-1, 2-1 PFL) put his flawless record on the line in a dangerous lightweight outing against Jay-Jay Wilson (12-2, 2-1 PFL). Kelly may not have closed as the betting favorite, as lines moved quite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37796","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\/37796","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=37796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}