The winner of last season’s welterweight tournament, Magomedkerimov (25-5) used his dominant grappling to secure a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) win over Chris Curtis (21-6) in the main event of PFL 4 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Thursday.

However, it was Zeferino who consistently got the stronger positions, taking Velickovic’s back in rounds two and three and working for a choke in the closing seconds of the fight.

The final welterweight playoff spot instead went to Andre Fialho, who received three points in a walkover after scheduled opponent Zane Kamaka failed to make weight.

In the main card opener, John Howard (28-15-1) took advantage of an aggressive Ray Cooper III (18-7), winning a slugfest to earn a first-round knockout and six points to move into the PFL playoffs.

Sarah Kaufman clinched a playoff spot a day before the event after scheduled opponent Roberta Samad failed to make weight for their contest.

The former Strikeforce and Invicta FC bantamweight champion was awarded three points for a walkover, giving her nine total on the season after she picked up a first-round submission of Frier in May.