The
Professional Fighters League has issued a statement pertaining
to April 1’s
PFL Challenger Series 7 event, which was actually recorded on
March 25 in Orlando, Florida.
“Week 7 of the Professional Fighters Leagues’ (PFL) 2022 Challenger
Series was pre-recorded on Friday, March 25, 2022,” read a
statement sent from PFL to Sherdog Tuesday evening. “As such the
PFL did not include any betting lines, content, or promotion in
connection with the program. Further, PFL did not distribute any
betting data, lines, or content to its partners.
“Any sports books that took bets on the prerecorded program did so
without the consent or knowledge of the PFL.
“The PFL will further evaluate the matter. The PFL continues to
advocate for responsible sports gaming.”
Sherdog staff was able to obtain a recording of April 1’s
tape-delayed broadcast and independently verified that PFL gambling
personality Ian Parker, who was present for prior editions of the
Challenger Series, was not featured on Fubo TV’s broadcast. Nor
were any betting lines listed or discussed during the airing.
The statement answered a report from
ESPN, citing U.S. Integrity, a company based in Las Vegas that
monitors betting markets, who flagged suspicious activity
surrounding the event after odds moved significantly in favor of
the winning fighters on Friday afternoon ahead of the broadcast.
Most notably, heavyweight Rakim
Talley went from a -290 favorite to a -2,500 favorite against
Santino
Zurita. Talley won the fight via unanimous decision.
U.S. Integrity sent an alert to sports books confirming that the
PFL admitted to airing fights that were pre-taped on March 25.
Meanwhile, a representative for fuboTV told ESPN that outside of
Friday’s card, all previous iterations of the PFL Challenger Series
aired live.
“The PFL Challenger Series is typically streamed live on Fubo
Sports Network,” Jennifer Press, senior vice president of
communications for fuboTV, told ESPN. “The April 1 event was the
lone exception and pre-taped. We inadvertently used the same promo
copy for the April 1 show as we did for previous shows, which was a
mistake. We regret the error.”
According to the report, a number of sportsbooks are still
investigating the matter and have not settled bets from the event
while the review is ongoing. The Arizona Department of Gaming
revealed to ESPN in an email that it is removing the PFL from its
wagering catalogue entirely.
Some bettors who were not aware that the event was taped have been
unable to collect their winnings. That includes Virginia’s Kyle
Miller, who told ESPN he couldn’t find any online evidence that the
card was prerecorded and won $200 on a four-leg parlay through Bet
MGM.
“The bets that I placed won. They all won,” Miller told ESPN. “The
money was in my account … everything was good. Then I log in
[Sunday] to place some more bets on UFC this week, and that money
was gone.”
Miller opened an online grievance with BetMGM and was informed his
account was under review. He did retain the amount he initially
bet, but not his winnings. Meanwhile, DraftKings offered odds on
the event in several states but removed it upon noticing suspicious
activity surrounding the event.
U.S. Integrity is still investigating the situation.
“Our goal as always is to notify the industry of any potential
nefarious, abnormal or suspicious activity as soon as possible so
they can take action as quickly as possible,” president of U.S.
Integrity Matthew Holt told ESPN.
PFL Challenger Series debuted on Feb. 18 at Universal Studios in
Orlando, Florida. The events follow a format similar to
Dana White’s Contender Series, where a prospect is selected
based on performance at each respective card to receive a PFL
contract. PFL Challenger Series 7 stood out from other events
because it featured a full lineup of athletes making their supposed
professional MMA debuts. According to Sherdog Fight Finder policy,
bouts filmed exclusively for television and aired via tape delay
such as “The Ultimate Fighter” and Combate Global without advanced
notice are considered exhibition bouts.
Jay Pettry and Mike Fridley contributed to this report.