Nemkov, Cyborg earn stoppages in PFL Lyon title fights

Vadim Nemkov made quick work of Renan Ferreira to capture the vacant PFL heavyweight championship.

Nemkov submitted Ferreira with an arm-triangle choke at the 4:00 mark of the first round in the PFL Lyon main event Saturday in Lyon, France.

Nemkov used an intelligent game plan to break down Ferreira, exploiting his weakness on the ground. He secured a takedown 30 seconds into the fight, landed some ground-and-pound, and advanced to full mount. Ferreira briefly reversed the position, but Nemkov got back on top and locked in a choke to force the tap.

After the victory, Nemkov said he wants to fight Francis Ngannou next. Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion, has one fight left on his PFL contract and is expected to return to the SmartCage in 2026.

Nemkov, a former Bellator heavyweight and light heavyweight titleholder, is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters outside the UFC. The 33-year-old Russian is now riding a 15-fight unbeaten streak dating back to 2016.

Ferreira, the 2023 PFL heavyweight tournament champ, suffered consecutive losses for the first time in his career.

In the co-main event, MMA legend Cris Cyborg tapped out Sara Collins with a rear-naked choke to retain the women's featherweight title. The stoppage came at the 2:55 mark of the third round.

Cyborg, 40, said she plans to have one more MMA fight next year and then retire. The Brazilian expressed interest in a featherweight title defense against Leah McCourt and also floated the idea of moving down to bantamweight to face flyweight star Dakota Ditcheva.