PFL 4 Results: Dakota Ditcheva scores impressive first-round finish, Linton Vassell wins trilogy against Valentin Moldavsky

Linton Vassell won the battle but lost the war.

On Thursday night, PFL 4 took place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT, and in the main event, Vassell took on Valentin Moldavsky in a heavyweight trilogy matchup, eking out a split decision. It was a hard-fought battle, with Moldavsky controlling much of the action but Vassell landing more damaging blows, including dropping Moldavsky with a big knee. That damage ultimately won him the fight on two judges’ scorecards.

Unfortunately, because of his previous loss during the regular season, Vassell missed out on the heavyweight playoffs, which Moldavsky was already locked for. Moldavsky will face teammate Oleg Popov in the semifinals of the heavyweight playoffs.

In the co-main event, Dakota Ditcheva demolished Chelsea Hackett to earn the No. 1 seed in the flyweight playoffs. Ditcheva dropped Hackett almost immediately and swarmed her. Hackett battled through but Ditcheva continued to pour on the pressure, finally finishing things off with a ruthless body shot. Ditcheva will face Jenna Bishop in the first round of the playoffs.

In the featured fight of the evening, Denis Goltsov punched his ticket to a fifth PFL playoffs with a dominant performance against Thiago Santos. Goltsov caught Santos early with a check hook, dropping the former UFC light heavyweight title challenger. Goltsov then followed him to the ground and worked Santos over with control and punches until the referee was forced to stop the bout. Goltsov enters the playoffs as the No. 1 seed at heavyweight and will face Tim Johnson in the semifinals.

In the main card opener, Liz Carmouche once again defeated Kana Watanabe to earn a spot in the flyweight playoffs. A rematch of a 2021 fight in Bellator that saw Carmouche score a 35-second knockout, this time around Watanabe gave Carmouche all she could handle and was on her way to an upset until Carmouche locked in an armbar in the final 10 seconds to get the impressive comeback finish.

On the prelim portion of the evening, Oleg Popov and Taila Santos both clinched spots in the heavyweight and flyweight playoffs respectively.

Check out the full PFL 4 results here.