Biaggio Ali Walsh, who entered PFL 7 as the most significant favorite on the fight card by a considerable margin, unexpectedly experienced the first professional defeat of his career.
The grandson of boxing legend Muhammad Ali was given overwhelming odds going into the event in Chicago on Friday night, listed as high as -1600 against Ronnie Gibbs, a 31-year-old local competitor participating in only his second professional fight. However, Gibbs delivered a shockwave through the MMA world, securing a second-round arm triangle choke submission to claim a massive upset victory.
In the opening minute of the bout, Ali Walsh managed to knock down Gibbs with a powerful right hand. Despite this early trouble, Gibbs recovered effectively. For much of the first round, Ali Walsh appeared dominant, repeatedly hurting his opponent and seemingly close to finishing the contest.
Gibbs survived the initial onslaught and reached the second round. There, he successfully took Ali Walsh to the ground, where Gibbs demonstrated his advantage in grappling, which ultimately led to his memorable win via submission.
With this victory, Ronnie Gibbs maintains a perfect professional record, standing at 2-0, with both wins coming by way of finish. His professional debut occurred in March, where he also secured a second-round TKO victory fighting for Chicago Cagefighting Championship.
Ali Walsh will now need to regroup and analyze his performance after this loss brought an end to his impressive eight-fight winning streak within PFL.
