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PFL’s Ray Cooper III wants to be known as ‘the best Hawaiian fighter’ when it’s all said and done

Ray Cooper III already has one PFL championship under his belt and he has an even bigger goal in his sights.

Certainly, another league title and another $1,000,000 tournament prize are enough motivation for Cooper III as he heads into his next regular season welterweight bout against Nikolay Aleksakhin at PFL 5 this Thursday in Atlantic City, N.J. But that’s been-there-done-that territory for Cooper now, who finished as a finalist in the PFL’s inaugural season before capturing the 2019 championship.

He took care of business in his 2021 PFL debut, needing less than 90 seconds to put away Jason Ponet via arm-triangle and he’s now in the catbird seat to make the playoffs for a third straight season.