Professional Fighters League Issues Statement Regarding Controversial Challenger Series Event

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.

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