PFL Charlotte: Battle vs. Rosta Live Updates, Results and Highlights

Unfortunately, Friday's Dalton Rosta vs. Bryan Battle main event was a bit of a dud. Credit to PFL commentators Dan Hardy and Sean O'Connell — two fighters known for their will to brawl— for selling it as something worth viewing, but it just wasn't in the end.

All the said, there was a winner at the end of three rounds, and it was Battle by split decision.

The fans in Charlotte were definitely thrilled by the outcome.

"I know y'all didn't think 'The Butcher' was going to lose in Charlotte," Battle said in his post fight interview.

In victory, Battle is now 13-3 overall, and the future looks bright.

His defeated opponent Rosta is 11-4. He's now lost three straight. It does beg the question what he was doing in a major main event, right?

It's time for our main event.

After a tough loss to Johnny Eblen in his PFL debut, former UFC welterweight contender and hometown hero Bryan Battle is on the hunt for his first win in the promotion against Dalton Rosta.

Rosta, meanwhile, has lost two in a row. Let's see if he can slice and dice "the Butcher" on home soil.

They'll fight at middleweight.

The stakes are massive for both men. To be frank, the loser will be irrelevant unless they can string together a huge streak.

Let's see who pulls it off.

England's Simeon Powell got the decision win against his opponent Dovlet Yagshimuradov. Unfortunately, their fight was disappointment — the kind of thing you show an energetic toddler to lull them to sleep.

The fight may have been bad, but there's still an obvious winner, and it was Powell. In victory, he's now 13-2, and 4-1 in his last five. His opponent, Yagshimuradov is now 26-9-1. This guy was good enough to go the distance with Magomed Ankalaev and beat some of the PFL's best. His best days are clearly over, but he's still a threat to most prospects.

It's now time for our co-main event. 

This one goes down at light heavyweight. 

Turkmenistan's Dovlet Yagshimuradov (26-8-1) has some serious accolades in both Bellator and the PFL, and is riding a win over UFC veteran Tyson Pedro. He's also beaten former UFC and PFL standouts Impa Kasanganay and Rob Wilkinson in recent fights. 

His opponent will be England's Simeon Powell. Powell (12-2) is riding a win over former PFL champ Emiliano Sordi, but has also lost recently to another former PFL champ (and UFC washout) in Antonio Carlos Jr. 

This is a big fight for the PFL light heavyweight division. 

It wasn't exactly thrilling, but Canada's Aaron Jeffery picked up an impressive decision win over Josh Silveira in Charlotte.

With the win, Jeffery is now 17-6 overall, and 2-1 since the PFL absorbed Bellator.

In defeat, Silveira is now 16-6.

Our next fight will be one of the last important middleweight bouts on the main card. In one corner, we'll have Josh Silveira, son of legendary American Top Teach coach Conan Silveira. In other corner, you'll find Aaron Jeffery of Canada.

Silveira (15-5), who has been in the mix in all of the recent PFL light heavyweight tournaments, is riding a win over former ONE Championship contender Murad Ramazanov. 

Jeffery (16-6) is riding a split decision loss to main eventer Dalton Rosta, but also beat Ramazanov before that—a nice feather in his cap.

Both men have mullets, which somehow seems relevant. This is a big one for the PFL middleweight rankings. Let's get to it. 

McGrillen vs. Lewis was an absolutely fantastic fight, but in the end, the W went to England's McGrillen by decision.

In victory, the Brit is now 13-2 overall. He's also now 6-2 in the PFL, and frankly, a proven commodity in this promotion. Unfortunately, the Liverpudlian's post-fight rendition of Wonderwall left a lot to be desired. Time to ditch a few strength and conditioning sessions for some vocal lessons, perhaps.

In defeat, Lewis falls to 7-4.

Our next fight will be contested at bantamweight, with Lewis McGrillen taking on Brandon Lewis.

England's McGrillen (12-2) will look to serve up a win after a loss to Rafael do Nascimento exactly a month ago. Lewis (7-3), making his PFL debut, is riding a win over Michael Billups on the regional scene.

Here we go.

Josh Fremd kicked off the PFL Charlotte main card with a stunning second-round TKO over Jhony Gregory.

With the victory, the UFC veteran Fremd is now 13-6, and builds on the momentum of a stoppage win in his PFL debut. He's also recently dabbled in bare-knuckle boxing, and won there too.

In defeat, Gregory is a rough 10-6.

Hasan Mezhiev may have had an undefeated record, but Denis Goltsov had too many tricks up his sleeve to be denied in their heavyweight fight. The Russian veteran handed his unbeaten foe his first setback by TKO in round one.

52 seconds is all it took.

In victory, Goltsov is 37-9. What a record for the 36-year-old Russian.

Mezhiev, meanwhile, gets his first taste of defeat. It is probably not going down smooth.

Our final fight of the undercard is a cage-shaker at heavyweight, with Denis Goltsov (36-9) taking on Hasan Mezhiev (14–0). 

As Goltsov's record indicates, he's extremely experienced — and he hasn't been fighting nobodies either. At the moment, he's riding a loss to top PFL pound-for-pounder Corey Anderson, but he's still a tough test for most fighters. 

Let's see if he can pull off another veteran performance against Mezhiev, who has accolades

Cheyden Leialoha is now 12-3 as a pro mixed martial artist, thanks to a unanimous decision victory over Robbie Ring in Charlotte. The victory also brings him to 1-1 in the PFL.

Ring, meanwhile, falls to 9-2, and will have to wait for his first PFL victory

Up next, we've got Cheyden Leialoha vs. Robbie Ring at featherweight.

Leialoha (11-3) lost his PFL debut to Gabriel Braga and will be looking for redemption in Charlotte. Ring (9-1), who experienced his lone pro loss on Dana White's Contender Series and then had two subsequent appearances on the program cancelled, will be making his PFL debut.

This is an interesting fight between two prospects who have experienced more ups and downs than their records indicate.

Cheyanne Bowers had to fight her way out of a pretty tight rear-naked choke attempt early in her flyweight fight with Elora Dana, but in the end, she turned the tables in dramatic fashion. In the final minutes of the round, Bowers shook Dana off her back, and took the same position for herself. Seconds later, she locked up a rear-naked choke of her own. By the time the buzzer sounded, it was clear Dana was asleep.

That moves Bowers to 8-3, and 1-0 in the PFL. She definitely has room to grow, but she has plenty of skill and serious killer instinct.

In defeat, Dana falls to 8-3—coincidentally the same record Bowers just achieved.

Up next is a women's flyweight scrap between former LFA star Cheyanne Bowers (7-3) and former Jungle Fight champ Elora Dana of Brazil (8-2).

Bowers is riding a dubious decision loss against Sabrinna de Sousa. Dana, regrettably, has lost two in a row.

The stakes are high for both women. Let's see who wants it more.

Landry Ward had to survive a bit of a scare in round three of his undercard lightweight scrap with Michael Boylan, but ultimately walked away with a split decision win on the strength of a very strong start in the first two rounds. It probably should have been unanimous, but we all know how MMA judging works.

Basically, it doesn't.

Anyway, the victorious Robbie Lawler protege is now 11-3, and 1-0 in the PFL. Those are pretty darn good numbers, even if he didn't get a finish.

Boylan, now 6-1, is going to be licking his wounds for a few days, but clearly has a lot of potential, and in his mid-twenties, has tons of time too.

Up next, we've got a lightweight clash between Texas' Landry Ward (10-3) and undefeated finishing machine Michael Boylan of Iowa (6-0). This is the PFL debut for both, but Ward has Robbie Lawler in his corner, which seems like an unfair advantage under any circumstances.

Let's go!

Bruno Cappelozza and Valentina Moldavsky showed off all of their veteran experience in their undercard light heavyweight clash, but in the end, the former's leg kicks and punches were enough to earn a unanimous-decision win.

In victory, Cappelozza is now 16-7. This victory, his first since he stopped Stuart Austin way back in 2022, marks a succsesful light heavyweight debut.

Moldavsky, meanwhile, has a 3-fight unbeaten streak derailed in defeat.

It would be fair to call Brazil's Bruno Cappelozza one of the most important heavyweights in PFL history. He is the former winner of the promotion's defunct heavyweight tournament—under heartbreaking circumstances—and is also behind some of the most entertaining fights in the PFL heavyweight history.

Tonight, after a submission loss to Vadim Nemkov over two years ago, he'll make his light heavyweight debut. His opponent will be the incredibly talented former Bellator interim light heavyweight champ and Fedor Emelianenko protege Valentin Moldavsky, who is riding two straight wins, and is also dropping down a weight class.

These are two extremely experienced and dangerous fighters, despite no mention of the UFC on their resumes.

Here we go.

In the third fight of the night, Charlotte's own Jonathan Martin defeated Wilson Lopshire by unanimous decision in a 160-pound catchweight clash.

The hometown winner says he graduated from high school in the same arena he just fought in. That is very cool. What a moment for him.

The decision win brings Martin to 9-3, and marks his successful PFL debut. His future looks bright, and it can't hurt that he has the same name as the new PFL CEO.

The loss marks Lopshire's first taste of defeat. He's now 7-1.

Just like last weekend's UFC card in Serbia, this PFL card in Charlotte is off to a red-hot start, with violent finishes in the first two fights. Will it continue into bout No. 3? Let's see.

Up next, it's a 160-pound catchweight clash between Wilson Lopshire and Jonathan Martin. Lopshire is undefeated at 7-0, while Martin is riding a loss to Hector Saenz. Both are making their PFL debuts.

Let's see what these two newcomers are all about.

There is something in the water in Cameroon.

Following in the footsteps of incredible fighters like Francis Ngannou and Ateba Gautier, Maxwell Djantou Nana picked up a huge win for the country in Charlotte, knocking Brazil's Eduardo Neves in round three of their heavyweight clash. It was a body shot that sealed the deal, and 2:31 was the time of the stoppage.

In victory, Nana is now 9-2 overall, and he's sure to climb upwards from his No. 6 spot in the PFL heavyweight rankings. For Neves, now 9-4, it's back to the drawing board.

After a violent stoppage in the welterweight division to start tonight's card, we move up to the heavyweight division, where Eduardo Neves of Brazil will take on Maxwell Djantou Nana of Cameroon.

Neves (9-3) is riding back-to-back stoppages, while Nana (8-2) is fresh off a win over skidding UFC veteran Karl Williams.

Both men are a long way from the top of the heavyweight division, but they have an opportunity to make a big statement tonight.

Trukon Carson came out aggressive in his undercard opener against Trey Waters, but ultimately paid a high price. After pressing the action early, he was dropped by a straight punch, and after a few brutal sequences, was finished off by his more experienced foe on the mat.

The official time of the stoppage was 4:37 of round one.

In victory, Waters makes a successful PFL debut, and improves to 10-2 overall. Importantly, he also puts some distance between himself and the loss that ended his UFC run.

Carson falls to 6-2 in defeat, and will have to wait for his first PFL win — if the organization gives him another shot.

Tonight's PFL card in Charlotte is officially live.

The first fight of the night will be contested in the welterweight division, as Trey Waters takes on Trukon Carlson. Waters is making his PFL debut, but UFC fans may remember his 2-1 run in the Octagon, which ended with a loss to top British talent Sam Patterson. Carson, also debuting, hasn't achieved quite the same level of success so far, but has won a couple of regional titles.

This should be a nice way to kick off the card. Let's get into it.