Despite only being 32, Stevie Ray is one of Scotland’s all-time greats. He returns in the PFL season opener against Alex Martinez in the first step to a one million dollar prize. “Braveheart” will be a fighter familiar to many following an eleven fight UFC stint. He has done battle with the likes of Joe Lauzon, Micheal Johnson and Paul Felder.
Ray retired following a bout of injuries that caused the UFC to release the Higher Level MMA grappling ace. He made a partial return to action in a grappling bout against Craig Ewers in 2021, submitting him as he had done to Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett at his previous Polaris outing.
Stevie Ray’s Competition
It came as a surprise to some when Stevie Ray was confirmed as a participant in the latest PFL roster that is to compete at 155lbs for the million-dollar bounty.
He will take on Alex Martinez, an 8-2 fighter from Paraguay. Martinez is 1-2 in his PFL tenure and is yet to be stopped in his MMA career. On Wednesday, the 20th of April, the fight takes place and features some of Ray’s future opponents doing battle.
Former UFC lightweight champion and highlight extraordinaire Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, Jeremy Stephens and Clay Collard are some names the fans might recognise.
Stevie Ray is certainly one of, if not the best, grappler in the tournament. He should look to assert that in his matchup against one of the lower-seeded fighters in the bracket. At least when we last saw him, he was a winning UFC fighter who had a tough break with injuries. Stevie Ray, when he is on, when calm, composed and workmanlike, handled some very tough opponents in one of the UFC’s flagship divisions with relative ease.
Thanks to the recent partnership between the MMA league and the British broadcasting giants, the fight card will be on Channel 4 at around 2 am UK time.
Can Scotland’s Stevie Ray bring home the $1 million dollar prize?
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Featured image credits to PFL MMA
