PGF World Season 7 is almost over, as day 4 saw the end of the regular season and the promotion set up their playoffs for the grand finale. It was a frantic race to the finish and nobody had guaranteed their place in the playoffs when the day began, but a few grapplers put the issue to rest very quickly. The final few places weren’t decided until the very last set of matches, but the results were still largely predicted when the draft opened the season. There were a few surprises along the way of course, but most of the 8 men in the playoffs tomorrow were favorites before it all began.

PGF World Season 7 Day 4 Recap

Pedro Sauer and New Hope Regeneration built up an early lead and it hasn’t really looked in doubt since the second day. Each team had one or two big hitters who put a lot of points on the board and made it to the playoffs, but three of the eight places went to Sauer’s team. The real difference-maker was Ryan Aitken though, as he led the team from the front and scored an insane 50 points by the time that the day had finished. It was a truly remarkable run from Aitken all week long, and he is rightfully coming into the playoffs as the favorite to win it all.

Top Performers

Ryan Aitken continued to stand out on day 4 of PGF World Season 7, as he got another three submission wins. He submitted Fedor Nikolov with a rear-naked choke in the very first match of the day, before mixing up threats of an arm-triangle and back-take to submit Aaron Sheffield with the arm-triangle choke in the end. He finished the day just as strong, with another rear-naked choke in his final match against Caleb Crump. Aitken wasn’t the only man to submit every opponent he faced though, as the man in second place behind him did the same.

That was Marcin Maciulewicz, and he actually stepped on the mats immediately after Aitken in the second match of the day. He heel hooked Travis Thomas there before submitting Crump with another leglock and landing one of the best submissions of the season in his final match. He hit a clean uchi mata on Sam Schwartzapfel and as soon as they hit the ground, he secured the front-headlock and transitioned to a tight arm-in guillotine for the finish. It was a great day for Maciulewicz as well and on any other season, he may well have ended up in first place instead.

Other Winners

Two men scored a pair of submission wins on day 4 and secured their places in the playoffs, despite starting out slow at the beginning of PGF World Season 7. ADCC veteran Kyle Boehm heel hooked Crump and locked up a rear-naked choke in his match with Drew Dyer, reaching an impressive 3rd place in the rankings. He was joined by Chris Wojcik, who submitted Cameron Hurd with a rear-naked choke and hit a brutal Aoki lock on Aaron Sheffield, finishing 6th in the season and making it on to the final day. Both of these men couldn’t get a single win on the first day but adapted to the ruleset well as time went on.

The other submission wins came from two men who were quite some distance away from making the playoffs and one of them actually edged into qualifying range thanks to an injury Boehm suffered. Nathan Haddad looked like he would submit Schwartzapfel with an armbar at first but he transitioned to a triangle choke for the finish, booking his place in the playoffs. Kris Olivo locked up an ankle-lock against Sebastian Attard and went belly-down for the finish, but it was too late for him to make it. Although three men didn’t get any wins today, they all still progressed to the playoffs thanks to their earlier success.

PGF World Season 7 Standings After Day 4

Pedro Sauer & New Hope Regeneration – 80 Points

Ryan Aitken – 50 points

Travis Thomas – 24 points

Ernesto Rivera – 14 points

Brad Schneider – 12 points

Cameron Hurd – 5 points

Dean Lister & Constellation Network – 51 Points

Marcin Maciulewicz – 35 points

Chris Wojcik – 22 points

Kemoy Anderson – 3 points

Sebastian Attard – 3 points

Fedor Nikolov – 3 points

Drew Dyer – 3 points

Roger Gracie & 1st Phorm – 47 Points

Kyle Boehm – 26 points

Paul Ardila – 21 points

Adam Bradley – 7 points

Kyle Chambers – 7 points

Deyvson Souza – 6 points

Dory Aoun – 4 points

Carlos Machado & Intrana – 33 Points

Elijah Carlton – 15 points

Abraham La Montagne – 9 points

Davis Asare – 9 points

Nathan Haddad – 9 points

Kris Olivo – 6 points

Andre Porfirio – 3 points

Caleb Crump – 3 points

PGF World Season 7 Playoffs

A. Ryan Aitken vs Nathan Haddad

B. Paul Ardila vs Elijah Carlton

C. Marcin Maciulewicz vs Davis Asare

D. Chris Wojcik vs Ernesto Rivera

Semi-Finals

E. Winner of A vs Winner of B

F. Winner of C vs Winner of D

Final

Winner of E vs Winner of F

The full replay of the PGF World Season 7 day 4 has been uploaded to the official UFC Fight Pass YouTube channel: