PFL 1 results: Andre Harrison, Lance Palmer win, but fail to lead first round of featherweight season

NEW YORK — Former WSOF featherweight champion Andre Harrison succeeded at PFL 1, but did not leave as the biggest winner of the night.

The unbeaten fighter dominated a very experienced Jumabieke Tuerxun over the course of three rounds in the main event of PFL 1, which took place at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Harrison succeeded on both the ground and feet to win a clean a 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27 decision on the three judges’ scorecards. Although victorious, Harrison’s win didn’t get him too far in the first round of the 145-pound season of the PFL tournament. Harrison’s dominant victory only got him three points in the season, as he did not score a finish.

With this result, Harrison is now tied with Timur Valiev, who outpointed Max Coga also on the main card, and Nazarene Malegarie for fourth place. “The Bull” is now 18-0 as a professional fighter.

Meanwhile, Lance Palmer only needed two rounds to finish Bekbulat Magomedov in the co-main event Thursday.

The first round was competitive with both Palmer and Magomedov having good moments in the grappling department. Things changed in the second, as Palmer dominated, dragging the fight to the ground, getting Magomedov’s back, and sinking in a rear-naked choke that forced Magomedov to tap at the 3:21 mark. Palmer scored five points with his finish, placing him third in the featherweight season.

The lead up to the fight with Magomedov was the first time Palmer did a training camp at the UFC PI and Xtreme Couture. It marked his first camp outside of Team Alpha Male. The 31-year-old fighter is now 13-3 in his MMA career.

In the opening bout of the televised card, Alex Nicholson scored one of the most impressive finishes of the night.

After a competitive first round, the former UFC middleweight jumped in the air and connected his knee to Jake Heun’s chin, putting Heun away early in the second. The victory got Nicholson five points in the heavyweight season, and it also improved his MMA record to 12-5.

The undercard also had several notable fighters that picked up victories:

Steven Siler, who competed in the UFC’s featherweight division from 2011 to 2014, scored an incredible comeback finish. Siler was dropped early in the first round by Magomed Idrisov and appeared to have gone out at some point. However, the referee let the action continue and Siler was able to submit is opponent with a triangle choke a couple of minutes later in the round. Siler is now 30-17 as a pro fighter.

Former WSOF featherweight champion Alexandre de Almeida was able to get his first win since losing the title to the man he originally took it from, Lance Palmer. Almeida made quick work of his opponent Lee Coville, submitting him in the first round.

Francimar Barroso picked up his first victory since departing from the UFC earlier this year. The Brazilian, who moved up to heavyweight for this PFL bout, defeated Daniel Gallemore via first-round technical knockout. Barroso is now 20-7 as a professional fighter.

Below are the current season standings based on the results at PFL 1:

Featherweight:

1. Alexandre Almeida: 6
2. Steven Siler: 6
3. Lance Palmer: 5
4. Andre Harrison: 3
5. Nazareno Malegarie: 3
6. Timur Valiev: 3
7. Jumabieke Tuerxun: 0
8. Bekbulat Magomedov: 0
9. Marcos Galvao: 0
10. Magomed Idrisov: 0
11. Lee Coville: 0
12. Max Coga: 0

Heavyweight:

1. Kelvin Tiller: 6
2. Jack May: 6
3. Francimar Barroso: 6
4. Alex Nicholson: 5
5. Jared Rosholt: 3
6. Jake Heun: 0
7. Aldrin Istrefi: 0
8. Josh Copeland:0
9. Caio Alencar: 0
10. Daniel Gallemore: 0

Check out full results for PFL 1 here