Kai Kamaka made it interesting before ultimately losing a split decision in his first main event outing.

The Kamehameha alumnus, fighting in the semifinals of the Professional Fighters League tournament in the featherweight division, lost to top seed Brendan Loughnane in the final fight of Friday’s card at The Anthem in Washington D.C.

Kamaka, who was rocked with a spinning back heel kick to the body in the first round in the final minute that gave Loughnane the round, kept the final two rounds competitive.

One judge scored the fight 29-28 in Loughnane’s favor and the second had it 29-28 for Kamaka. The announcer read the final scorecard 30-27 and Kamaka went to fist bump his opponent before the winner was announced, knowing the final scorecard was in favor of Loguhnane.

Loughnane, who won the 2022 featherweight tournament, improved to 30-2 overall and 12-2 in PFL. Kamaka, who had won his previous five fights, dropped to 14–6-1 overall and 2-1 in the PFL.

Loughnane will fight Timur Khizriev in the final, with the winner receiving a purse of $1 million.

Kamaka hung tough with Loughnane, who won the fight with the most decisive round coming in the first round.

With 40 seconds remaining, Loughnane landed a spinning back heel kick that forced Kamaka to retreat. Loughnane teed off on Kamaka, landing a multitude of strikes, with three straight knees to the head leading to a knockdown of Kamaka, who ended the round on his back.

The final two rounds were much more competitive. Kamaka finished the fight landing more strikes than Loughnane.

In the final fight of the preliminary card, Kamaka’s cousin, Ray Cooper, lost a split decision to Mukhamed Berkhamov.

Cooper, who won the PFL welterweight championship in 2019 and ’21, lost for the third time in his past four fights. Berkhamov was ahead 29-28 on two judges’ scorecards, while the third gave it to Cooper, 29-28.

Berkhamov improved to 17-2 overall with a win in his PFL debut. Cooper fell to 25-11-1 and 12-6-1 in PFL.