‘This Card Is Cursed!’ PFL vs. Bellator Event Loses Yet Another Massive Fight

One more bout withdrawal occurred on weigh-in day.
‘This Card Is Cursed!’ PFL vs. Bellator Event Loses Yet Another Massive Fight
‘This Card Is Cursed!’ PFL vs. Bellator Event Loses Yet Another Massive Fight /

The PFL can't seem to catch a break.

PFL vs. Bellator is one day away and what started off as a cross-promotional card for the ages has now become something much smaller in magnitude due to a number of fight fallouts and withdrawals.

The unprecedented PFL-Bellator showdown was supposed to feature four title fights between both promotion's champions: Ryan Bader vs. Renan Ferreira in the main event, Impa Kasanganay vs. Johnny Eblen, Patricio "Pitbull" Freire vs. Jesus Pinedo and Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Jason Jackson.

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Bellator champions "Pitbull" and Jackson would end up with replacements after their original opponents pulled out. 

Freire was scheduled to meet 2023 PFL finalist Gabriel Braga on short-notice, but the second time was not the charm for the featherweight kingpin as Braga also withdrew from their bout. MMA Junkie was first to report the fight cancellation.

"This card is cursed," one MMA fan wrote of the news on 'X'. 

It is unknown at this time why Braga decided to drop out of the bout. The Brazilian did not hit the scales during the official PFL vs. Bellator weigh-ins on Friday, whereas "Pitbull" did at 145.9lbs. 

Gabriel Braga was getting ready to fight Aaron Pico at the same event before he was offered a bigger name in Patricio "Pitbull."

This marks the fifth-straight (and hopefully last) fight cancellation for the PFL vs. Bellator event, which goes down on Saturday from the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

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Check out the current bout order below:

  • Renan Ferreira vs. Ryan Bader 
  • Impa Kasanganay vs. Johnny Eblen 
  • Ray Cooper III vs. Jason Jackson 
  • Bruno Cappelozza vs. Vadim Nemkov 
  • Thiago Santos vs. Yoel Romero 
  • Clay Collard vs. AJ McKee Jr. 
  • Aaron Pico vs. Henry Corrales 
  • Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. Emmanuel Palacio 
  • Claressa Shields vs. Kelsey DeSantis 
  • Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs. Edukondala Rao 
  • Malik Basahel vs. Vinicius Pereira

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Christopher De Santiago
CHRISTOPHER DE SANTIAGO

Christopher De Santiago is a 22 year-old journalist from Gainesville, Texas with years of experience covering MMA.