Ray Sefo won’t let himself be discouraged by the drug test suspensions that have wreaked havoc on the PFL.
The league took a hit this past May when it was announced that several fighters competing in the 2023 season would be suspended and removed from the competition following failed drug tests, including 2023 light heavyweight champion Rob Wilkinson and former UFC standout Thiago Santos.
In the wake of these suspensions, Sefo is actually welcoming further scrutiny of his fighters, with plans for the USADA — the official drug-testing partner of the UFC — to oversee the upcoming PFL playoffs and the season-ending championship event.
“Obviously, my stance is that sports should be competed at the highest level, but at a safe level and everybody being clean,” Sefo told reporters after PFL 4 on Thursday night. “That’s the message right through. The message with that also moving forward, USADA will be part of this program from now on. The USADA [testing] will be in the
The UFC demands year-round testing of its fighters, and Sefo confirmed that will now be the same case for the PFL’s athletes.
“That is correct,” Sefo said. “It will be exactly the same program that the USADA does for the UFC.”
According to Sefo, the USADA’s involvement begins in August with the start of the PFL playoffs. League playoff events are scheduled for Aug. 4 in San Antonio, Texas, and Aug. 18 and Aug. 23 in New York. A date for the PFL championship finals event is still to be announced.
Sefo is determined to avoid any foul play as the league completes its fifth season.
“Especially from the first show when we had, I want to say eight people that popped,” Sefo said. “Eight or nine people. For a league, for me, that’s a no-no. Again, I don’t want to throw people’s names out there and whatnot, but the bottom line is we’re going to keep this sport clean, we’re going to keep the league clean, we’re going to have the USADA be part of the league, and that’s how it’s going to continue to move forward.”
RIP PFL
could be
Oh boy, hes gonna regret this big time
The most boring uncared about money black hole of an organization is going to do something this stupid? Talk about zero self awareness.
Novitski thinking of testing Jake Paul and Ngumbo
Don’t remember Ngannou failing any in UFC
^You don’t fail if they don’t want you to. Jon failing so many times is an anomaly and a showing of his abysmal IQ level. All these PFL guys failing in their first trip to Vegas is a showing of what kind of power Dana and the UFC wield inside Las Vegas city limits and inside Nevada as a whole. They made their message clear to the PFL and it’s investors with the amount of failures/suspensions they had: Stay out of Vegas or else.
tttt