Linton Vassell managed to dig just a little bit deeper.
In his first headlining assignment with the Professional Fighters League, the Kill Cliff Fight Club standout scratched, clawed and willed his way to a split decision over Valentin Moldavsky atop PFL 4 on Thursday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. All three cageside judges struck 29-28 scorecards: Eric Colon for Moldavsky, Sal D’Amato and Bryan Miner for Vassell (24-9, 1-1 PFL).
Moldavsky (13-4, 1-1 PFL) leaned on takedowns, intermittent ground-and-pound and positional control but ultimately failed to establish a sense of superiority in the trilogy bout between the two rivals.