PFL 7 results: Denis Goltsov, Dakota Ditcheva advance to $1 million finals with quick knockouts

Denis Goltsov is heading to his second straight PFL championship.

The 34-year-old Russian and 2023 PFL heavyweight runner-up made easy work of Tim Johnson on Friday in the main event of PFL 7, bulldozing over Johnson with a ground-and-pound assault to punch his ticket to the 2024 heavyweight finals.

The bracket’s No. 1 seed, Goltsov (35-8) tripped Johnson to the mat off an early cage clinch then barraged him with punches from top position and eventually from Johnson’s back to secure the mercy stoppage at the 2:26 mark of the opening round. Goltsov is now 7-1 under the PFL umbrella since 2022, with his lone loss coming in a second-round knockout at the hands of Renan Ferreira in 2023 finals. Goltsov finished Linton Vassell, Thiago Santos, and now Johnson (18-10) to secure his second chance at PFL’s $1 million grand prize.

Meeting Goltsov in the heavyweight finals will be No. 2 seed Oleg Popov (18-1), who defeated two-time Bellator title challenger Linton Vassell (24-10, 1 NC) in a lopsided if uneventful unanimous decision. Popov repeatedly took Vassell to the floor and dominated the grappling to secure a trio of 30-27 scores and keep his $1 million dream alive.

In the co-main event, homegrown star and No. 1 seed Dakota Ditcheva (13-0) continued to turn the women’s flyweight season into her own personal highlight reel, demolishing Jena Bishop (7-2) with a brutal flurry of knees and punches for another first-round stoppage.

After escaping an early takedown, Ditcheva dropped Bishop just minutes into the contest with a clean clinch knee to the head. Ditcheva then allowed her dazed opponent to stand, only to down her again with a picture-perfect right hand that drew an end to the contest at the 3:54 mark of the round. Ditcheva is now 3-0 with three first-round knockouts in 2024.

“Did they expect [me to win]? Because I took a lot crap-talking off the internet. Her whole fight week, all the girls in the tournament — I think I’ve proved enough just there. We don’t do no split decisions around here,” a smirking Ditcheva said post-fight.

Standing across Ditcheva in the $1 million finals will be one-time UFC title challenger and No. 2 seeded Taila Santos (22-3), who bested Bellator flyweight champion Liz Carmouche (22-8) in a grinding affair to capture a unanimous decision.

Santos took Carmouche down early and spent the final minutes of the first round hunting for a rear-naked choke from Carmouche’s back. Carmouche defended it well and rallied with a smothering showing in the third round, although Santos landed enough hard right hands and fended off Carmouche’s grappling in the first two frames to secure 29-28 scores. Notably, Carmouche would’ve been penalized a point for missing weight by one pound had the scores been closer, however Santos was successful enough for it to not come into play.

PFL 7 took place August 2 at Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.

Check out complete PFL 7 results below.

Main Card

Denis Goltsov def. Tim Johnson via TKO (punches) at 2:26 of Round 1

Dakota Ditcheva def. Jena Bishop via TKO (knees and punches) at 3:54 of Round 1

Oleg Popov def. Linton Vassell via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Taila Santos def. Liz Carmouche via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Preliminary Card

Sergey Bilostenniy def. Tyrell Fortune via verbal submission (heel hook) at 2:00 of Round 1

Alexei Pergande def. Daniel Boehle via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Cody Law def. Zachary Hicks via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:15 of Round 1

Dedrek Sanders def. Sergio Cossio via TKO (strikes) at 2:34 of Round 1

Anthony Ivy def. Jaleel Willis via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:49 of Round 2

Kevin Pease def. Nick Meck via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)