Collard gets past Burgos to make 1st PFL finals

NEW YORK — Two of the most exciting fighters in the PFL — and in mixed martial arts — squared off in a lightweight main event on Wednesday inside The Theater at Madison Square Garden. The resulting action did not disappoint.

Clay Collard (24-10) advanced to his first PFL championship match with a unanimous decision over Shane Burgos (16-5) in a highly anticipated 155-pound semifinal matchup. Collard won via unanimous scores of 29-28 after three furiously paced rounds in a fight that is sure to be in the running for the best of 2023.

He will face 2022 lightweight champion Olivier Aubin-Mercier (20-5) in the finals.

Collard, 30, could barely stand at the end of the bout, as Burgos chewed up his lead left leg with low kicks. Burgos was the PFL’s most-prized free agent acquisition going into 2023, but he had stumbled to a subpar year going into this main event. He went 1-1 during the PFL’s regular season and only made the playoffs thanks to PFL’s decision to suspend lightweight Natan Schulte for what they saw as a dishonest effort in a fight against his teammate, Raush Manfio.

Burgos, who had never suffered a loss before in his native state of New York, trailed on the scorecards after the first two rounds but rallied in the third. He survived an onslaught of body punches, as well as a left-hook knockdown in the second round. Collard suffered an injury to his left hand midway through the fight, which appeared to greatly limit his ability to throw what had been his best weapon to that point.

Collard, of Utah, had come up short of the PFL finals in back-to-back years coming into 2023. His 2021 and 2022 campaigns both ended in decision losses in which he believed he’d done enough to win. Burgos, who signed with the PFL after a becoming a fan favorite in the UFC, fell to 1-2 in his new promotion.

Canada’s Aubin-Mercier advanced to his second straight final appearance with a second-round TKO victory over Bruno Miranda.

At welterweight, another 2022 champion in Sadibou Sy (16-6-2) punched his ticket to the finals with a split decision over Carlos Leal, and 2018 champion Magomed Magomedkerimov (33-6) did the same with a unanimous decision over Solomon Renfro.

The PFL finals take place on Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C.