Ernesto Rodriguez nearly pulled off an all-timer Saturday, but Thad Jean persevered and left with a title around his waist.
Jean (12-0) ran into early trouble against Rodriguez (11-2) in their vacant welterweight title fight in the PFL Washington main event. Rodriguez took the fight on just two days’ notice. He moved up from the card when Shamil Musaev dropped off because he was doing to miss weight.
Although Rodriguez dropped Jean, who was – understandably under the circumstances – a massive 10-1 betting favorite, Jean rallied and put the fight away in the third round to escape with the 170-pound title.
Elsewhere at CareFirst Arena in the nation’s capital city, Rafael Xavier took advantage of his fight against UFC vet Tyson Pedro being moved from
the prelims to the co-main event and scored a knockout with one second left in the first round. And Sullivan Cauley went to proverbial war with Rasul Magomedov, who survived in a bloody light heavyweight fight.
Check out all the highlights from the PFL Washington main card in the video above.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: PFL Washington video: Thad Jean rallies to win welterweight title
