Former UFC heavyweight contender Alexander Romanov was stretchered out of the cage on Friday after suffering one of the worst groin shots ever.
This past Friday, the PFL landed in Chicago for the 2025 World Championships where semifinal bouts in the middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions took place.
Atop the card was a middleweight fight between Fabian Edwards, the brother of former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, and Joshua Silveira. Edwards advanced to the final, taking one step closer to the $500k prize fund.
On the undercard, Muhammad Ali’s grandson Biaggio Ali Walsh suffered his first ever loss when he was submitted in the second round.
However, it was a heavyweight semifinal fight between Alexander Romanov and Valentin Moldavsky that left fans cringing in pain.
Alexander Romanov is stretchered out of cage after suffering brutal groin shot
At one point in time, Romanov was widely regarded as a future heavyweight title contender in the UFC after winning five fights in a row.
The Moldovan was then given a big step up in competition and suffered back-to-back losses against Marcin Tybura and Alexander Volkov, denting his momentum in a big way.
Despite rebounding with a win, he was then defeated by Jailton Almeida. And despite once again bouncing back with a win over Rodrigo Nascimento, ‘King Kong’ was surprisingly cut from the promotion, subsequently signing with the PFL.
Romanov was immediately given a spot on the 2025 World Championship tournament, giving him a chance to win $500,000. In his promotional debut in the opening round, Romanov scored a first round submission win over Tim Johnson, advancing to the next round.
He was then matched up against Bellator veteran, Valentin Moldavsky. However, before their fight even had a chance to get going, Romanov was rendered unable to continue after he was blasted with one of the worst nut shots in MMA history.
The Moldovan lay on the ground in utter agony, attempting to recover from the groin strike, however there was no way he could even stand up.
Romanov was unable to even straighten his leg and a stretcher was subsequently brought into the cage and he was stretchered out.
Romanov advances to the final
Fortunately for ‘King Kong’ the fight was scored based on the first 4:30 of the round and the Moldovan was awarded the win.
And with that, he advances to the heavyweight final where he will take on Oleg Popov for $500,000.
Leave a Reply