Ray Cooper looked out on his feet.
Then Magomed Magomedkerimov was out cold.
The Pearl City alumnus made it back-to-back welterweight titles in the Professional Fighters League with a third-round knockout of Magomedkerimov in the co-main event of the 2021 PFL Championships on Wednesday night in Hollywood, Fla.
Cooper, bleeding from the mouth after taking a beating on the feet in the third round, landed one right hook and then another right that put Magomedkerimov on the mat before two right hands put him to sleep and end the fight at 3 minutes, 2 seconds.
Cooper (24-7-1, 11-2-1 PFL) earned a $1 million check for winning the 170-pound tournament a second time.
“I know I’m the best. I’ll take on the UFC champion, the Bellator champion … put me against anybody and I’ll take them all out,” Cooper said in a post-fight interview in the cage.
Cooper’s contract with PFL ended after this fight, making him a free agent.
The 170-pound final was a rematch of the last two winners in the division.
Cooper was choked out by Magomedkerimov in the second round of the 2018 final.
Magomedkerimov suffered an injury that kept him out of the 2019 playoffs that Cooper won with a second-round TKO of David Michaud in the final.
“He’s an awesome competitor. I wanted to fight him for a long time,” Cooper said. “What can I say, he’s an awesome competitor. I told you guys once again. I’m better at everything.”
Magomedkerimov (28-5) hadn’t lost in 10 fights in the PFL.
He badly beat up Cooper in the third round doing most of his work on the feet.
Repeated punches and kicks caused Cooper to start bleeding out of the mouth before he tattooed Magomedkerimov with two right hands that led to the finish.
Magomedkerimov started the fight with a couple of nasty leg kicks. After a brief halt due to a low blow by Magomedkerimov, the Russian took Cooper down and controlled the round.
Cooper managed to get a takedown of his own in the second round and did some heavy damage from half guard, spending most of the round on top of Magomedkerimov.
The Star-Advertiser had the fight scored 19-19 after two rounds.
Cooper was badly hurt against the cage in the third and barely could move as Magomedkerimov hammered him with rights and lefts, but he couldn’t put the three-time state wrestling champion in high school away.
“I had to just wait for my opening and it came,” Cooper said. “I finished him. I told you I was going to knock him out. I’m the best.”
Magomedkerimov had never lost a fight via knockout.
