"
When the Professional Fighters League season started earlier this year, Ray Cooper III probably wasn’t the name most people expected to end up as the No. 1 ranked welterweight.
That all changed when Cooper shocked the world with a savage second round finish against former Strikeforce champion and UFC veteran Jake Shields to kick off the season. Cooper followed that up with a blistering 18-second knockout in his second fight and now he’s the No. 1 overall seed in the welterweight bracket with the winner earning a $1 million grand prize.
Because of the format with the PFL where wins and finishes count the most, Cooper was able to skip past all the typical pre-fight trash talk and social media engagements that can often times determine how fights are made in mixed martial arts.
"
