The PFL 2025 World Tournament: First Round 4, featuring the light heavyweight and heavyweight division eliminations, wrapped up inside the Universal Studios Arena in Florida. The UFC’s billion-dollar rival promotion’s flagship event has garnered a lot of attention, especially after veteran wrestler Phil Davis scored his first knockout in five years over 2022 PFL tournament winner Rob Wilkinson and punched his ticket to the semi-finals of the said tournament. However, another fight on the prelims card stirred up significant criticism and backlash due to illegal strikes. Out of many voices, Sean Strickland was particularly critical of the situation. But why? Let’s find out.

The tournament opened with a heavyweight bout between former UFC fighter Rodrigo Nascimento and Abraham Bably, which ended in a split decision draw. But what came next was nothing short of a shocker! Sullivan Cauley faced Alex Polizzi in a light heavyweight bout that ended in ugly fashion. After the fight began, Polizzi used his takedowns to quickly drag Cauley to the ground. ‘Sully’ eventually made it back to his feet in the clinch and started blasting elbows, all of which landed on the back of Polizzi’s head, resulting in a brutal knockout finish.

Now, this controversial ending has become a hot topic in the MMA world because, according to the Unified Rules of MMA, strikes to the back of the head (rabbit punches) are illegal. The Polizzi corner also immediately protested after the fight. This ending sparked reactions from everywhere.

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland also didn’t hold back in criticizing the PFL for allowing the illegal strikes. ‘Tarzan’ took to X and posted two tweets: “Every single punch was illegal?” and “Not one single legal punch @PFLMMA. UFC would never let this fly.”

Strickland obviously has a point. In today’s UFC, a foul like that would be tough to slip through unnoticed. However, there was a similar incident in the UFC once. Back at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale, Travis Browne faced Gabriel Gonzaga in what was expected to be a banger. The fight began in a similar fashion. Gonzaga shot for a takedown, and Browne answered with vicious elbows that landed behind his head.

Instead of any punishment, Browne received the $50k bonus for that performance. UFC head honcho Dana White also clarified that the initial strikes that knocked out Gonzaga landed on the side of his head, and only a few afterward landed on the back. Gonzaga later appealed to the Nevada State Athletic Commission to have the result overturned to a no-contest, but the appeal was denied.

Coming back, the fight is now over, and we’re yet to see many reactions that are definitely going to be aimed at Sullivan Cauley attempting these illegal strikes. Before that, let’s hear what he had to say about scoring this brutal finish.

Sullivan Cauley opens up about his knockout win over Alex Polizzi

Sullivan Cauley was back after spending two years away from the sport. He was originally scheduled to face Marcelo Nunes at the same event, but the Brazilian fell ill on the day of the fight, resulting in him being replaced by Alex Polizzi. As we all know, how the actual fight has turned out, ‘Sully’ also described how he felt about the knockout after coming back from a devastating ACL surgery.

Cauley at the post-fight interview with Dan Hardy said, “I kinda felt him moving his weight in a weird way, in which he had to be hurt. I was able to generate a lot of power with those, even though it kinda look like it was just my arm. I knew if he stayed there, I was gonna do some damage to him. He did a really good job of getting that single leg early and had a really tight grip on my leg. So I was kind of worried for a second, but props to him for making it a tough fight right out of the gate.”

It’s a difficult position for this fight in its entirety. A fight is an intense scenario where fouls can happen, that’s for sure. But, it also needs to be highly scrutinized to maintain the fighters’ safety. Whether this fight turns out to be overturned, it only remains to be seen. That being said, did you think that fight could’ve been handled better? Please let us know what you think below!