PFL Belfast results: Jay Jay Wilson silences home crowd with KO of Darragh Kelly

Jay Jay Wilson celebrates his win over Darragh Kelly at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 16, 2026. (Jose Peñuela/ PFL)

(Jose Peñuela)

The MMA gods did not reward Darragh Kelly for replacing countryman Paul Hughes in his PFL Belfast main event Thursday against , with the Irishman suffering a left-hook knockout in the opening exchanges of the bout.

After stunning the SSE Arena into silence, Wilson called for a showdown with the recent challenger to Usman Nurmagomedov’s lightweight crown, Alfie Davis.

“There’s a little Alf in this division who needs a beating,” said Wilson. “So, Alfie Davis, I’m coming for you June in San Diego — lets do it!”

Although it was a left hook that dispatched Kelly 37 seconds into the contest, Dan Hardy heaped praise on the left body kick Wilson landed before going upstairs and landing the final punch.

“One of my friends, his name is Said, and I call that ‘the Said kick’. He just fought last week, and he broke a guy’s ribs with the same kick,” Wilson told Hardy after the contest.

“I landed [the kick], and then I stepped back and caught him.”

No stranger to big nights in Belfast, UFC veteran Rhys McKee scored a routine win over Alex Lohoré in the co-main event, finishing out a stellar 3-0 night for Belfast’s Fight Academy Ireland gym.

Although Lohoré started the encounter in command, landing well-placed calf kicks on the Ballymena man’s lead leg, McKee grew into the contest and scored a big knockdown at the beginning of the third round. An exhausted Lohoré looked to bring the contest to the canvas for the remainder of the round, with McKee breaking free and landing another big shot just before the contest ended.

“Alex played his part, but listen, he was never going to get it done,” McKee told Dan Hardy in the cage after the contest. “No offense, that was the punch [he] was waiting for all those f***ing years!”

Tyson Pedro nearly had a fairytale return after putting former PFL champion Dovlet Yagshimuradov on skates in the final round of the main-card opener. Dovlet had to hang on for dear life as he was peppered with shots before landing a takedown that allowed him to hear the final bell.

The rally came too late for the UFC veteran, who was competing in mixed martial arts for the first time since his retirement in March 2024, as Yagshimuradov’s measured performance won him the nod on all three judges’ scorecards.