Professional Fighters League light heavyweight
Jordan
Young will be left without a dance partner on Thursday after
all.
Young (11-1) was originally booked at light heavyweight against
Smealinho
Rama for
PFL 2: 2021 Regular Season, which takes place on April 29 at
the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. The 2019 PFL
semifinalist withdrew, and fellow 2019 playoff participant Vinny
Magalhaes joined in his stead. Magalhaes, a finalist in the
2018 season, was also
forced out after he was hospitalized due to a bad weight cut.
On a day’s notice, Askar
Mozharov (21-8) was in as a replacement, but he too has now
pulled out from the event, per ESPN
on Thursday. PFL has confirmed it on its own site, while Young has
since voiced his frustrations on his Instagram
account.
“After Vinny pulled out on 24 [hours] notice due to his weight cut
– I accepted a fight with an unknown steroid head Ukrainian [and]
after this little sucker [pulled] s— [at] the weigh ins [and] he
pulled out of the fight due to ‘medical reasons,’” Young wrote. “He
was my [third] opponent in 30 days – I’m a big ol solider [sic] and
I’m living that. I said yes to every name to keep the show going
but ultimately I will be a spectator tonight and return to the
playoffs in June with 3 points.”
The promotion has awarded Young three playoff points in a walkover
win after his opponents bowed out. There are four spots in the
playoffs of each division, and the highest point totals will
advance – it is not a foregone conclusion that Young will reach the
playoffs, should other fighters finish their foes early and earn
more points than Young can manage. PFL 2 will carry on with eight
bouts, as
multiple other fighters have been forced out of their matchups
including David
Michaud, Alexey
Kunchenko and Magomed
Magomedkerimov.
Young was set to make his promotional debut after nearly three
years and seven bouts inside the Bellator MMA promotion. His first six wins under the
Bellator banner resulted in five different submissions using four
different maneuvers, and the Iowa native suffered his first career
defeat his last time out against Julius
Anglickas in 2019. Young has not competed since.
Mozharov was looking to make his own PFL debut on the heels of a
trio of first-round knockouts in the Professional Pankration
Championship organization. The Ukrainian holds a disputed record of
21-8, with the fighter or his representatives claiming he has more
wins and fewer losses than can be authenticated. “No Mercy” sports
a career finish rate of 90 percent, although all of his losses have
come inside the distance as well.
PFL 2: 2021 Regular Season goes down at the Ocean Casino Resort in
Atlantic City, N.J., on April 29. It will feature welterweights and
light heavyweights, with a newly arranged headliner between
Rory
MacDonald and Curtis
Millender at 170 pounds. The prelims will air on ESPN+, while
the main card takes place on ESPN2.
