Romanov’s Guillotine Forced Nascimento to Submit in Chicago
Alexandr Romanov submitted Rodrigo Nascimento with a guillotine choke at 3:10 of round two on April 11, 2026. The heavyweight preliminary bout at Wintrust Arena formed part of PFL Chicago and gave Romanov another submission victory.
The matchup and early action
The matchup brought together two former UFC heavyweights. Romanov represented Moldova, while Nascimento represented Brazil, making the contest another international pairing on the promotion’s Chicago lineup.
Romanov weighed 259.4 pounds and Nascimento 254.4 at the official weigh-in. Both were within the heavyweight limit, with a relatively modest five-pound difference between them.
The decisive developments
The fight progressed into the second round before Romanov secured the decisive hold. He caught Nascimento’s neck and completed the guillotine, forcing a submission rather than waiting for a third round.
The finish came eight minutes and ten seconds into the scheduled contest. The official result therefore depended on a completed choke, distinguishing it from the striking stoppages elsewhere on the preliminary program.
What the result meant
Romanov’s professional record advanced to 22–4, while Nascimento fell to 12–5. The victory also marked Romanov’s fourteenth professional submission, underlining the importance of grappling to his overall finishing record.
Paulina Wiśniewska and Jena Bishop also finished their preliminary assignments before the main card shifted toward decisions. Romanov’s contribution supplied the heavyweight submission on a program whose featured bantamweight contests both reached the judges, adding another distinct outcome to the Chicago event.
Sources
- PFL: official weigh-in results
- Tapology: bout details
- Sherdog: submission report
- Fightmag: complete results
