Ray Cooper III

Raynald "Ray" Cooper III (born February 7, 1993) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 2012, Cooper is most notable for his time in the Professional Fighters League (PFL), where he is a two-time Welterweight champion.

Early life
Born and raised in Pearl City, Hawaii, Cooper got into many fights in the schoolyard, beginning to wrestle at the age of six and trained under the tutelage of his father, Ray Cooper Jr., a professional fighter. In Hawaii, Cooper was a three-time state champion wrestler and two-time Oahu Interscholastic Association champion, winning his last championship at 173 lbs. Upon graduating at the age of 18, he began his career in professional MMA, turning down a college scholarship to continue wrestling. Starting to train with his uncles Ronald Jhun and David “Kawika” Pa’aluhi, also fellow former fighters, and his father, Cooper was the first Cooper sibling, 6 of them in total, to skip college.

Early career
Cooper began competing as an amateur in 2011, compiling a record of 3-0 before turning professional in 2012. He competed in promotions King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge, X-1 and PXC. He compiled a record of 13-5 before being signed by the Professional Fighters League.

Professional Fighters League
On July 5, 2018, Cooper made his PFL debut at PFL 3 defeating former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields via technical knockout in the second round.

On August 16, 2018, Cooper defeated Pavel Kusch at PFL 6 in 18 seconds of the first round advancing to the playoffs.

On October 20, 2018, Cooper faced Jake Shields in a rematch at PFL 10. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round to advance to the semifinals of the playoffs. In the semifinals, Cooper defeated Handesson Ferreira in a rematch via technical knockout to advance to the Welterweight finals.

Cooper faced Magomed Magomedkerimov in the finals at PFL 11 on December 31, 2018. Cooper lost the fight via a guillotine choke submission in the second round. Cooper said of the fight, “I left my neck out too much. I thought I was winning that fight, you know, I was pressing the action. I just left my neck out. He has some slick guillotines, he has some long arms."

Cooper re-entered the welterweight tournament in 2019, facing his cousin, Zane Kamaka on May 9, 2019 at PFL 1. He won the bout via rear-naked choke in the second round.

On July 11, 2019 at PFL 4, he faced John Howard, losing the bout after getting knocked out in the first round.

He faced Sadibou Sy in the quarterfinals at PFL 7 on October 11, 2019. The fight ended in a draw with Cooper advancing. In the semifinals at the same event, he faced Chris Curtis and won by knockout in the second round. Cooper faced David Michaud in the finals at PFL 10 on December 31, 2019. He won the fight via TKO in the second round to win the 2019 PFL Welterweight Tournament.

Cooper faced Jason Ponet on April 29, 2021 at PFL 2 as the start of the 2021 PFL Welterweight tournament. He won the bout with an arm-triangle choke in the first round.

Cooper faced Nikolay Aleksakhin at PFL 5 on June 17, 2021. He won the bout via unanimous decision.

Cooper faced Rory MacDonald in the Semifinals off the Welterweight tournament on August 13, 2021 at PFL 7. He won the bout via unanimous decision.

Cooper rematched Magomed Magomedkerimov in the Finals of the Welterweight tournament on 27 October 2021 at PFL 10. Cooper had previously faced Magomedkerimov in the finals of the 2018 tournament, losing the bout via guillotine in the second round. He won the bout this time tho via knockout in the third round, winning the 2021 PFL Welterweight Tournament and another $1 million dollar prize.

Cooper was scheduled to face Magomed Umalatov on May 6, 2022 at PFL 3. Umalatov would pull out of the bout and be replaced by former LFA Welterweight Champion Carlos Leal. At weigh-ins, Ray Cooper III missed weight for the bouts, weighing in at 176.4 pounds, 5.4 pounds over the welterweight non-title fight limit.He was fined 20 percent of their purses, ineligible to win playoff points, given a walkover loss, and was penalized one point in the standings In an upset, Cooper lost the bout via unanimous decision.

Cooper faced Brett Cooper on July 1, 2022 at PFL 6. He won the bout via TKO stoppage 24 seconds into the bout.

Cooper made his middleweight debut against Derek Brunson on November 24, 2023 at PFL 10. At weigh-ins, Cooper came in at 186.8 pounds, .8 pounds over the limit, leading him to being fined a percentage of his purse which went to Brunson and the bout was held at a catchweight. Cooper lost the fight by unanimous decision.

Returning to welterweight, Cooper replaced PFL welterweight champion Magomed Magomedkerimov to face Bellator welterweight champion Jason Jackson in a 182 pound catchweight bout at PFL vs. Bellator on February 24, 2024. He lost the bout by technical knockout in the second round.

Personal life
Cooper has four younger brothers; Bronson, Blake, Baylen and Makoa. All won wrestling state titles as well, with Blake, now a mixed martial artist, winning three. Both Blake and Baylen wrestled for Warner Pacific University where they were NAIA national champions and All-Americans. He also has a younger sister named Makana who is currently competing in the Hawaii High School Girls Wrestling division. Even Cooper's wife is a former high school state wrestling champion.

Cooper and his wife Kelly have five children, with his last two children being twins.

Championships and accomplishments

 * Professional Fighters League
 * 2019 PFL Welterweight Championship
 * 2021 PFL Welterweight Championship
 * Fastest Knockout in PFL History (0:18) vs. Pavel Kusch
 * Gladiator Challenge Fights
 * Gladiator Challenge Lightweight Championship (One time)