PFL Madrid results: Costello van Steenis uses brutal elbows for knockout win over Fabian Edwards to retain title

Costello van Steenis sent the home fans happy as he knocked out Fabian Edwards to retain the PFL middleweight title. The middleweight championship rematch headlined Friday’s PFL Madrid card — which served as the first major mixed martial arts event to take place in Spain. The opening stanza featured a brief exchange that saw von Steenis land a big right hand, before immediately securing double under hooks.

They separated with Edwards landing a nice elbow on the break. Edwards would shoot for his own takedown, but would nearly get caught in a guillotine, and the champion ended the round on top. Edwards chose to continue a grappling strategy in Round 2, and eventually got top position after van Steenis went off-balanced after a kick.

Edwards eventually got to the back of Edwards with around two minutes to go in the round. The champ landed punches, while Edwards was warned twice by the referee for grabbing his opponent’s glove. Van Steenis tried a Peruvian neck tie, but slipped up, and Edwards landed some big shots at the close of the round.

As the third round began, Edwards attempted to wrestle again, but after a guillotine attempt failed, Edwards went back to the well and ate some short elbows from the champ, which led to the end of the fight, picking up his second win over Edwards in the process. AND STILL! 💥 COSTELLO VAN STEENIS RETAINS HIS PFL MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE 🏆 #PFLMadrid | 📺LIVE NOW on the ESPN app | 📍Palacio Vistalegre pic.