Shane Burgos is unbeaten no more in his home state.
The Bronx native and Monroe resident fell to 7-1 in the Empire State on Wednesday night, falling to Clay Collard via unanimous decision in the PFL semifinals at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.
With his win, Collard (24-10, 14 finishes) advances to face Olivier Aubin-Mercier, who won the night’s other lightweight semifinal matchup with a second-round TKO of Bruno Miranda, at the PFL championship event on Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C.
Burgos (16-5, 10 finishes), who originally missed the playoffs but got a second chance when Natan Schulte was suspended over what the promotion too lackluster a performance in defeating friend Raush Manfio in June, found himself in too big of an early hole on the judges’ scorecards.
Collard piled up offense throughout the first frame with his hands, but Burgos wasn’t without his successes.
Three minutes into the first frame, with his leg kicks keeping Collard from getting comfortable at boxing range, Burgos dropped his opponent with a straight right hand that sent him briefly tumbling.
Burgos hand continued to find the mark, but Collard kept the action competitive by working the body and pressuring the local favorite back toward the fence.
Collard found even more consistent lands with his hands early in the second, bloodying Burgos’ nose in the process.
Burgos again briefly felled Collard with a leg kick, but Collard stung him back and knocked him down, racking up more offense with punches from within full guard.
Burgos recovered to his feet, with a song of “Let’s go Burgos” from a venue rife with support for the New Yorker.
Both men stood fearlessly toe to toe in the third frame, with the crowd coming alive as Burgos’ leg kicks clearly had slowed Collard and damaged his lead left leg.
That allowed Burgos to open up more with his hands while continuing to punish Collard’s compromised calf, seemingly securing the final round to cap a crowd-pleaser.
Aubin-Mercier, the No. 2 seed at 155 pounds and the division’s 2022 PFL champion, pounded out third-seeded Miranda in the middle stanza, swarming the PFL Contender Series alum with punches from mount.
Also set to fight for a $1 million championship are Magomed Magomedkerimov and Sadibou Sy, winners in Wednesday’s welterweight semifinals.
Top seed Magomedkerimov grappled his way to a sweep of the scorecards against No. 5 Solomon Renfro.
No. 3 Sy, the 2022 champion at 170 pounds, edged second-seeded Carlos Leal.
The main card opened with a showcase of amateur fighter Biaggio Ali Walsh, a grandson of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who picked up a second-round TKO of Ed Davis for his fifth straight victory.