Fabian Edwards became a PFL middleweight tournament champion on Thursday night after taking a page out of his older brother’s playbook.
Edwards landed a head kick knockout of Dalton Rosta, which was practically identical to the head kick KO his sibling, Leon Edwards, used to defeat Kamaru Usman in 2022 to become the UFC welterweight champion.
Leon, who was in Fabian’s corner, was the first person to run into the cage to congratulate the new 185-pound titleholder.
The matchup with Rosta was the finals of a middleweight tournament that began in April. Edwards beat Impa Kasanganay and Josh Silveira en route to the finals, while Rosta had beaten Sadibou Sy and Aaron Jeffery consecutively.
Remarkably, the wins were separated by three years almost to the date. Fabian won his PFL belt on Aug. 21, 2025, and Leon became the UFC’s 170-pound champ on Aug. 20, 2022. One could argue they were exactly three years apart since it was after midnight on the East Coast when Leon won his title.
Both left high kicks. Both put their opponents completely out cold.
Leon’s was slightly more dramatic since it happened in the final minute of the final round of a fight he was losing, while Fabian finished his fight midway through the third round.
Also on the card that took place in Hollywood, Fla., Oleg Popov edged out Alexandr Romanov by split decision to win the heavyweight tournament and Antonio Carlos Jr. submitted Sullivan Cauley to emerge from the light-heavyweight bracket.
Below are the official results from the event:
MAIN CARD
-- Fabian Edwards def. Dalton Rosta via KO (head kick) at 1:28 of Round 3
-- Oleg Popov def. Alexandr Romanov via split decision (49-46, 48-47, 47-48)
-- Antonio Carlos Jr. def. Sullivan Cauley via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:44 of Round 2
PRELIMINARY CARD
-- Alexei Pergande def. Ethan Goss via submission (D’Arce choke) at 3:52 of Round 1
-- Lazaro Dayron def. Bryce Meredith via TKO at 4:06 of Round 3
-- Impa Kasanganay def. Andrew Sanchez via TKO at 4:31 of Round 3
-- Rasul Magomedov def. Guilherme Viana via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-- Sergey Bilostenniy def. Karl Williams via TKO at 4:11 of Round 2
-- Josh Silveira def. Murad Ramazanov via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
-- Jean-Pierre Saint Louis def. Tyler Ray via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
