It’s hard to find 90 seconds of fighting more eventful than what happened between Tim Johnson and Danilo Marques on Thursday’s PFL card.
And it all started with a low blow that was nothing short of mesmerizing.
Two minutes into the first round, Johnson connected with a hard left hook that left Marques staggered and open for a finish. Unfortunately, at the exact same moment Johnson made first contact, Marques landed a right kick to Johnson’s groin.
Both fighters went down at the same time, with Marques getting up first. Marques started celebrating for a moment before realizing Johnson was about to get all the time he needed to recover.
Johnson eventually recovered and stayed in the fight. The next few minutes went very poorly for Marques, who knocked Johnson into the fence with a right and then went to work as his opponent tried to get back to his feet.
The pair eventually reached the ground, where Johnson grabbed Marques in a seatbelt and ended it with repeated punches to the head.
As Johnson explained after the fight, he had no idea he could have ended the fight even earlier had it not been for the groin strike:
“I had no idea I had even landed… That hurt. That was definitely the worst groin attack I’ve ever had. I didn’t know, I was just directing everyone. I was like, ‘I’m sorry guys.’ .” “I got kicked in the groin, I’m trying.” But then I found out they were booing Danilo, so whatever.”
The whole thing was quite a PFL debut for Johnson, who said he was transporting cattle in a truck a fortnight before the fight. The 39-year-old heavyweight is both a UFC and Bellator veteran and has an 18-9 career record.
However he got there, it was also a good start for Johnson in the PFL rankings as his first-round finish allowed him to take a maximum of six points from the fight.
