Brendan Loughnane was pushed like never before in his grueling win over Tyler Diamond.
Loughnane (21-3) outlasted Diamond on the main card of 2021 PFL 4 at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., on Thursday, and clinched a playoff spot and the No. 1 seed in the featherweight standings.
The Brit threw everything at Diamond (12-2), who just wouldn’t go away. The hard-nose wrestler kept coming at Loughnane, pushing the pace in all three rounds. He was able to weather the storm and even wound up in top position on the mat late, as Loughnane started to fatigue. But Loughnane’s power and precision proved to be too much throughout, dropping Diamond multiple times en route to a unanimous decision win.
“That man is an absolute warrior,” Loughnane said of Diamond during his post-fight interview. “He just brought the best out of me. That was a very close fight. If it would have went his way, I’m a gracious loser, as well. I’m covered in his blood. He’s covered in my blood. What a show for the PFL fans. Two fights for Brendan Loughnane, two entertaining fights. (It) could have went my way, could have went his way, but God, thank you for tonight because I scraped that by the skin of my ass.”
Loughnane, who had a flawless first-round finish over Sheymon Moraes in his first regular season fight, endured a much different type of bout against Diamond. Although he inflicted more damage overall, he was honest in his assessment in saying Diamond almost had him reach a breaking point – but he was ultimately able to push through.
“That was better for me than beating Sheymon Moraes,” Loughnane said. “I just had to dig to somewhere I didn’t even know I had tonight. In the third round when I had to scramble to get up, I contemplated quitting, and I’ve never done that in my career. I was sat there, and I was thinking, ‘Have I got it in me to get up from the bottom?’ And that’s just me being totally honest.
“My coach is looking at me in disgrace. We’ve got a a lot to go back to, but thank you for the win. Thinking back, I was hunting for the finish from start to the end of the fight. I was trying to knock Tyler out. I hit him with everything and the kitchen sink. God only knows how he stayed in there tonight.”