Ray Cooper in line to avenge rare loss in MMA match
Oct. 25—Ray Cooper couldn't have asked for a better championship fight even if he doesn't care one bit about the story lines surrounding it.
The 2019 Professional Fighter's League welterweight champion is back in the 170-pound final with a chance to win another $1 million prize.
He has an opportunity to erase the toughest loss of his mixed martial arts career—a submission to Magomed Magomedkerimov that cost him the seven-figure paycheck in 2018.
If he wins, his resume makes him the best welterweight fighter in PFL without a doubt.
And yet, the soft-spoken Cooper didn't show any interest in it whatsoever.
"Just excited to be back in the finals again, " Cooper said in a phone interview last week. "That's the number one goal. It doesn't matter the opponent."
Cooper (22-8-1 ) will fight Magomedkerimov (28-5 ) in a battle of the last two PFL welterweight champions in the co-main event of Wednesday's 2021 world championship finale in Hollywood, Fla.
The main card will start at 2 p.m. Hawaii time on ESPN2.
For Cooper, who won three state wrestling titles in high school at Pearl City, a victory sets him up to test free agency with leverage on his side.
He'll certainly be targeted by top MMA promotions like the UFC and Bellator, especially if he snaps Magomedkerimov's 10-0 run in PFL.
None of that concerns Cooper at the moment. For him, fighting is simple. Step inside a cage and destroy your opponent.
"It would just add on to the high level opponents that I've faced and beat, " Cooper said. "I think I'm already at the top in any organization so we'll see. I don't know what we'll do after this. My aspiration to be the best is clear."
Cooper doesn't usually have much to say, but his fighting style would make him easily marketable by the top organizations.
It's a style that has also cost him victories in the past, including to Magomedkerimov.
In the 2018 final, Cooper came out in his traditionally high-intensity style, stepping up the pressure to stay in Magomedkerimov's face the entire fight.
Not wanting to relent, Cooper shot in on Magomedkerimov in an attempt to keep the pressure on. Instead it left him open to Magomedkerimov's signature guillotine choke, one of nine submission victories he has out of his 28 wins.
"I was winning that fight until I shot in and made a mistake and he went for his best one and only move, " Copper said. "Those were mistakes I was making when I was younger just going in there and throwing bombs."
Cooper's maturity showed in his last fight when he easily handled former Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald to reach the final.
MacDonald was the favorite going into the fight but Cooper stayed patient and won a wrestling contest to earn a dominant unanimous decision over a fighter who has beaten the likes of B.J. Penn, Demian Maia and Tyron Woodley.
"I knew he wanted to wrestle from the beginning so I didn't come out and lay hands on him, " Cooper said. "He wasn't going to stand with me.
"I feel like I've matured more. I'm not going to be so anxious to go out there throwing bombs and let my opponents capitalize on my mistakes."
Magomedkerimov hasn't lost since 2015, but an injury forced him out of the playoffs in 2019.
While Cooper says he's matured as a fighter, he thinks the guy he stares at across the cage on Wednesday is the same one he saw three years ago on New Year's Eve.
"He's never changed from then until now. He's got the one move, " Cooper said. "I've got to control my aggression and put it where it matters at the right time.
"I'm ready for this fight."
