Pearl City’s Ray Cooper completes mission

Pearl City’s Ray Cooper III had a New Year’s Eve he’ll never forget.

The three-time state wrestling champion pocketed a cool $1 million in addition to winning the Professional Fighters League welterweight title with a second-round TKO of David Michaud in the co-main event of the 2019 PFL Championships at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on Tuesday night.

Cooper (20-7-1, 7-2-1 PFL) was dazed early in the second round but used his wrestling to buy himself some time before ending the fight with a punch to the liver of Michaud, who immediately crumpled on the ground. A flurry of strikes ended it at 2 minutes, 56 seconds, making Cooper a champion for the first time professionally.

Cooper was presented with the belt by Mike Tyson in the cage after the fight. He then thanked his entire family.

“We did what we said we was going to do,” Cooper said. “We was going to get into one fight and that’s one real fight — none of this laying around on the ground. We both throwing leather trying to knock each other out. That’s the name of the game.”

Cooper advanced to the final last year but was submitted in the second round despite being a heavy favorite.

He entered the fight against Michaud as a slight favorite but was far more patient. He landed 25 of his 32 strikes and got two takedowns in three attempts, mixing up his striking with his wrestling. He rode out the first round in top position on Michaud after taking him to the ground following a knee to the liver.

“This is MMA. We’ve got to mix it up,” Cooper said.

Cooper ate a right hand behind his ear and then took knees to the head and body and looked in deep trouble early in the second round after another right hand nearly crumpled him. Cooper survived by shooting in on Michaud and closing the distance so he couldn’t eat any power shots.

As the two grappled against the cage, Cooper landed the shot to the liver that led to the finish. He followed it up with five power strikes on the ground that ended it.

“Me and David did a helluva job. Much respect to David,” Cooper said.

Michaud (18-6, 3-2) entered the final as the No. 5 seed in the eight-man tournament, while Cooper was the sixth seed. Cooper went 1-1 to get into the playoff with a submission victory over Zane Kamaka before he was knocked out in the first round by John Howard.

Cooper fought to a draw but was awarded the spot in the semifinals due to the judges’ decision on a tiebreaker. He then knocked out Chris Curtis 11 seconds into the second round to reach the final.