It’s difficult to find a more exciting 90 seconds of fight than the one between Tim Johnson and Danilo Marques on Thursday’s PFL card.
And it all started with a low blow that was absolutely mesmerizing.
Two minutes into the first round, Johnson landed a strong left hook that left Marques staggering and open for the finish. Unfortunately, at exactly the same moment as Johnson’s first contact, Marques landed a right kick to Johnson’s groin.
Both fighters fell simultaneously, with Marques getting up first. Marques began to celebrate briefly, before realizing that Johnson was about to have all the time he needed to recover.
Johnson eventually recovered and stayed in the fight. The next few minutes were very bad for Marques, who Johnson pushed to the fence with a right, then got to work while his opponent tried to get up.
The pair finally reached the ground, where Johnson held Marques down with his seatbelt and finished him off with repeated punches to the head.
Like Johnson explained after the fighthe had no idea that he could have ended the fight even earlier if it weren’t for the blow to the groin:
“I had no idea I had fallen… That hurt. That was definitely the worst hit to the groin I’ve ever had. I didn’t know, I was just head-butting everyone booing. 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 14 days before the fight. The 39-year-old heavyweight is a UFC and Bellator veteran with an 18-9 career record.
Regardless, it was also a good start for Johnson in the PFL standings, as he earned a maximum of six points in the fight thanks to his first-round submission.
