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What’s better than $1 million? $2 million, of course.
And Ray Cooper III, the most recent Professional Fighters League welterweight champion and winner of its 2019 million-dollar prize, can double his grand-prize winnings with just two more victories in the coming months beginning with Friday night’s headlining matchup against Rory MacDonald in a tournament semifinal bout at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.
The winner of Cooper-MacDonald will face the other semifinal winner — also to be decided Friday when 2018 season champion Magomed Magomedkerimov meets Sabidou Sy — on Oct. 27 at the same venue.
But Cooper (22-7-1, 21 finishes) has bigger plans than winning two seasons in a row. He’s got an eight-figure haul in mind.
“I’m looking to be a 10-time world champion with the PFL, rack up those checks,” Cooper told The Post on Thursday, shortly after making weight. “And yeah, my goal as of now is to win it 10 times — even more, if we still are doing this.”
Cooper, a second-generation fighter who chose to follow his father into MMA over collegiate wrestling, appreciates the “meritocracy” PFL’s season format provides. The 28-year-old lost the first season, falling in the final to Magomedkerimov by second-round submission, but bounced back in 2019 — overcoming a knockout loss in the regular season and draw in the quarterfinals — to finish David Michaud and earn the grand prize on New Year’s Eve.
PFL’s third season was postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic until 2021, which gave Cooper the chance to recover after competing eight times for the promotion in two years. But unlike the first two seasons’ playoffs, PFL scrapped its quarterfinals and simply advanced the top four fighters in each weight class. In those years, both the quarters and semis were contested on the same night, a practice that was more common during the no-holds-barred days of the 1990s.
Some fighters may enjoy the change. Not Cooper.
“I like the old-school style,” Cooper said. “ I was kind of disappointed in not fighting twice in a night because the new guys [are] not getting the full effect of the whole season.”
MacDonald (22-7-1, 15 finishes) is one of those “new guys.” A former UFC title challenger and Bellator champion, MacDonald signed with PFL after completing his contract with Bellator. After picking up a quick win in his debut for the league, he suffered a hard-luck split decision loss in a bout that featured one of the most contested sets of judges’ scorecards in the sport this year.
Nonetheless, he advanced to face Cooper, who overcame his share of struggles in the leadup to his second 2021 bout. He, too, secured a first-round finish to start the season, but he missed weight by less than a pound and was docked a point in PFL’s season standings. A decision victory over Nikolay Aleksakhin did nothing to improve his place in the pecking order, but he snuck through to the semifinals anyway.
Known to fans for his violent, finish-heavy resume, Cooper wasn’t pleased with the result of the last bout, which went down as his first decision victory after finishing his first 21 pro wins.
“I was disappointed in my performance,” Cooper says. “I think I could have pressed him more for the finish, but he was good at evading. He had good footwork, running away.
“Yeah, I was disappointed, but I will change that [in] this next fight.”
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