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The 2023 Professional Fighters League Regular Season marches on with 2023 PFL 4 at 6:30 p.m. ET. The action airs live on ESPN+ and then continues on ESPN at 10 p.m. ET. Round 1 Come hell or high water, the PFL is carrying on its season with a number of cancellations and historic amount of drug test failures, with a landscape drastically different than it was mere months ago. Featherweights and light heavyweights will conclude their regular season stints tonight, in search of enough points to qualify for the four-man playoffs. Before those matches begin, the promotion is plugging in two “showcase” matches at 145 pounds, with the first between a young man that reached the league through the Challenger Series in Pergande (2-0, 2-0 PFL) and a 35-year-old company debutant without a lot of miles on him in Bashir (3-1, 0-0 PFL). Referee Blake Grice draws the first assignment of the night, and the fight begins with a touch of gloves. Bashir strikes with a leg kick, and Pergande imm…

🚨 BREAKING 🚨

Per source, Phil De Fries' next opponent is PFL alum Szymon Bajor at #KSW84. De Fries is looking for his 10th promotional win and 9th heavyweight championship defense. Bajor is a former FEN heavyweight champion.

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Story coming to @sherdogdotcom — Tudor Leonte (@MrTudorLeonte) June 8, 2023

July 15’s Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki card will see the return of heavyweight kingpin Philip De Fries in an intriguing matchup with Szymon Bajor.

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, De Fries and Bajor will collide in the KSW 84 headliner at PolSat Plus Arena in Gdynia, Poland.

De Fries (23-6, 1 NC; 9-0 KSW) is the most dominant champion in KSW history, with eight title defenses under his belt. The Ultimate Fighting Championship alum captured the vacant heavyweight championship with a first-round stoppage over Michal Andryszak at KSW 45 in 2018. He then overcame challengers such as former 205-p…

[embedded content] The Professional Fighters League’s 2023 playoffs will wrap up in New York City over the span of six days.

Via press release, the organization announced Thursday that it would be staging its second and third playoff events for the 2023 season in Aug. 18 and Aug. 23. Those two shows will post up inside of The Theater at Madison Square Garden – the recently renamed Hulu Theater – in New York. That Friday the 18th, heavyweights and women’s featherweights will decide the finalists. Five days later on the 23rd, the league will put up its welterweight and lightweight divisions to determine the final combatants up for the $1 million prize.

PFL CEO Peter Murray touched on returning to this venue, one that the PFL has made a second home out of the last few years, stating, “The PFL is thrilled to return to New York City and the ‘World's Most Famous Arena’ with two nights of PFL Playoff action. On August 18 and August 23, the world's best fighters will enter the…

𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 ✅

[ Thursday, June 8th | 10pm ET on ESPN | #PFLRegularSeason | 🎟️ https://t.co/Skcq84VUo6] pic.twitter.com/Fd6wZSyHH1

— PFL (@PFLMMA) June 7, 2023

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All but one athlete slated to compete at PFL 4 made weight without issue on Wednesday.

Featherweight headliners Brendan Loughnane and Jesus Pinedo both hit their contracted marks, with each tipping the scales at 146 pounds. The same couldn’t be said for light heavyweight competitor Ty Flores, who checked in at 211.2 pounds for his showdown with Dan Spohn (206). As as a result, Flores will be deducted one point from the PFL standings and forfeit 20% of his purse to his opponent.

PFL 4 takes place on Thursday at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. The main card airs on ESPN and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

After winning the 2022 featherweight championship, Loughnane kic…

The lineup for the Bellator MMA-Rizin Fighting Federation card continues to grow, as two bouts were announced for the Bellator portion of the show on Tuesday.

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Danny Sabatello will square off against Magomed Magomedov in a bantamweight clash, while Lorenz Larkin will face Andrey Koreshkov in a welterweight rematch on July 30 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Bellator vs. Rizin 2 features a lightweight grand prix showdown between A.J. McKee and Patricky Freire as well as a clash for the promotion’s inaugural flyweight championship pitting Kyoji Horiguchi against Makoto Takahashi. The promotion announced that the Bellator portion of the card, which takes place in a cage, will be broadcast live in the United States on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT. The Rizin part of the card, which will be contested in a ring, will not air on Showtime.

A former wrestler at Purdue University, Sabatello has made a name for himself due to his outspoken p…

Nicknamed the “fighting scientist” by Patricio Freire, Francisco “Chikão”' Freitas is the man behind the Bellator champion’s move to bantamweight.

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A nutritionist, physiologist and physical trainer, Freitas discussed how Freire reached 145 pounds three weeks ahead of schedule in his weight cut. Already the reigning 145-pound champion, Freire is scheduled to challenge Sergio Pettis for bantamweight gold at Bellator 297.

"Actually, since the [Adam] Borics fight when Bellator started to consider the bantamweight belt as a possibility, we started to change his whole preparation to make it an easy weight cut process. And when you work with a hard worker and focused champion like Patricio, every goal turns out easier,"Freitas revealed.

Freire’s measurements have impressed Freitas.

"I’ve been working with Patricio for the last five years,” Freitas said. I have all his numbers noted from every camp. His power, his hormones and the whole physiologic pr…

Je reste positif et je reviens au plus vite ⏰🤜🏾 Jarrah a de la chance cette fois mais il ne peut pas se cacher. @pflmma c’est chez moi maintenant, alors je vais botter les fesses de tous ces poids welters … #ticTac ⏰ #PoignetMort #AlHamduliLlah pic.twitter.com/uP0JpZGttT

— Cédric Doumbè (@CedricDoumbe) June 7, 2023

Cedric Doumbe’s highly-anticipated Professional Fighters League debut will have to wait.

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The organization announced on Wednesday that Doumbe has withdrawn from a proposed welterweight clash against Jarrah Al-Silawi at PFL 6 on June 23. As a result, Zach Juusola will step in and face Al-Silawi at the event.

Doumbe took to social media to reveal that a wrist injury was the reason behind his exit.

“Now, we are training, we trained, we trained a lot. Everything was good. At the grappling training I don’t know why but my wrist hurt, I told myself it will heal. There’s always little injuries during the tra…

Marlon Moraes enters PFL 4 on a six-bout losing streak in which he has been finished by knockout or technical knockout in all of those defeats.

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Despite those struggles, Moraes doesn’t feel any added pressure as he prepares to face Gabriel Braga on Thursday at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta.

“Every fight is pressure,” Moraes said during PFL 4 media day. “You always want to win and you always want to finish. I don’t see any difference. Every fight is pressure.”

Moraes established himself as one of the top bantamweights in the world from 2012 to 2019, when he won 16 of 18 bouts while reigning as World Series of Fighting champion and challenging for UFC gold. His recent losing streak has been tough mentally, but Moraes knows that it comes with the territory of his chosen career.

“It’s the other side,” Moraes said. “I’ve been on both sides. It’s not easy to deal with. But that’s what I chose for my life, to be a fighter.

“I’m not in a good…

The lineup for the second leg of the Professional Fighters League regular season changed significantly when 10 fighters failed drug tests after the organization’s first three events of 2023.

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The light heavyweight field was notably affected, as defending champion Rob Wilkinson was one of four athletes — along with Thiago Santos, Will Fleury and Krzysztof Jotko — who was removed from the campaign as a result of those failed drug tests.

One fighter who remains in contention for the light heavyweight crown is Ty Flores, who is coming off a unanimous decision triumph against Delan Monte at PFL 1. The Elevation Fight Team representative was not surprised to see so many of his counterparts test positive for banned substances.

“I don’t think that PFL is alone in that,” Flores said at PFL 4 media day. “People are gonna cheat in sports. There’s always gonna be cheaters no matter what. I’m never gonna be shocked, especially in a sport like MMA.”

Flores …

After beating Abubakar Nurmagomedov by split decision last Saturday at UFC on ESPN 46 in Las Vegas, Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos disappointed his fans by not calling out a future opponent in his Octagon interview.

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He didn’t make the same mistake when speaking to Evelyn Rodrigues for UFC Fight Pass Brazil shortly thereafter.

“I already have two names I want to face, Gunnar Nelson and Neil Magny, so I'm ready,” he said. “As soon as the UFC decides, you can call me, and I'll be ready for the fight.”

The Brazilian veteran also revealed that he never stopped training during the time he was suspended by USADA for a doping violation.

“I took advantage of this period to evolve and correct mistakes using the excellent training material we have at CM System,” he said.

While his first victory in more than a year and a half made him happy, dos Santos is more excited for the significant life event that is on the horizon.

"I'm anxious. My f…

After 16 bouts, Ilir Latifi and the Ultimate Fighting Championship have parted ways.

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The 39-year-old heavyweight and light heavyweight fighter is no longer on the UFC roster. The news was initially reported by Twitter account UFC Roster Watch and later confirmed by multiple outlets. Latifi reportedly completed his deal and did not have his contract renewed by the promotion.

The Swede known as “The Sledgehammer” last competed on May 20, when he dropped a split decision to Rodrigo Nascimento at UFC Fight Night 223. Latifi went 9-7 during his promotional tenure, earning wins over the likes of Alexey Oleynik, Ovince St. Preux and Gian Villante.

In addition to Latifi, the following fighters are no longer on the UFC roster: Makwan Amirkhani, Tony Gravely, Trevin Jones, Mounir Lazzez, Omar Morales and Batgerel Danaa. All completed their contracts and were not re-signed by the UFC, according to MMAFighting.com.

Chris Weidman will make his first Octagon appearance in more than two years when he faces Brad Tavares at UFC 292.

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Newsday was first to report the middleweight booking. It will be Weidman’s first fight since he suffered a gruesomely broken leg 17 seconds into his clash with Uriah Hall at UFC 261 on April 24, 2021. Weidman, who broke his right fibula and tibia on a checked low kick, had to undergo multiple surgeries to recover from the injury.

UFC 292 takes place on Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston and is expected to be headlined by a bantamweight title tilt between Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley. In the co-main event, Weili Zhang will defend her strawweight crown against Amanda Lemos.

A former UFC middleweight champion, the 38-year-old Weidman is just 2-6 within the Las Vegas-based promotion since December 2015 — which dates back to when he relinquished the belt to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194. Weidman’s most recent victory came at UFC Fight…