Nine PFL Fighters Face Sanctions After Testing Positive for Banned Substances

Nine fighters from the first leg of the Professional Fighters
League regular season are facing punishment from the Nevada State
Athletic Commission for failed drug tests in relation to their
bouts.

During a meeting on Wednesday, the NSAC announced sanctions or
future hearings for the following PFL athletes: Alejandro
Flores Garcia , Krzysztof
Jotko, Bruno
Cappelozza, Rizvan
Kuniev, Mohammad
Fakhreddine, Cezar
Ferreira, Will
Fleury, Daniel
Torres and Thiago
Santos. All of those fighters competed at PFL events held on
April 1, 7 or 14.

Three of those fighters received fines and suspensions on Tuesday.
Flores, who defeated Torres via unanimous decision at PFL 1 on
April 1, was suspended six months and fined $2,926 after testing
positive for furosemide. His victory was also overturned to a no
contest. Jotko, who dropped a unanimous verdict to Fleury at PFL 1,
was suspended six months and fined $6,826 after testing positive.
Cappelozza, who defeated Matheus
Scheffel via first-round TKO at PFL 2 on April 7, was suspended
nine months and fined $11,451 after testing positive for
drostanolone.

Meanwhile, Kuniev (drostanolone, methenolone, boldenone,
19-norandrosterone), Fahkreddine (stanozolol, dronastalone,
GW1516), Ferreira (clomiphene, androstanolone), Fleury
(drostanolone), Torres (drostanolone, amphetamine) and Santos
(clomiphene) will have their cases resolved at a future
hearing.

The PFL recently released a statement on the situation, revealing
that it is considering using USADA to implement its own anti-doping
policy:

“PFL has been notified by the Nevada State Athletic Commission that
several fighters who competed in two PFL 2023 Regular Season events
this past April have been temporarily suspended until further
review by the Commission. The PFL has a zero-tolerance policy
related to the usage of banned substances and complies with U.S.
State Athletic Commission requirements. Further, as the PFL moves
towards the highest level of testing and compliance in the sport,
PFL is engaged with USADA on the implementation of its athlete
anti-doping program.”

The league recently released its schedule for the second half of
the regular season. As expected the cards included multiple changes
as a result of the suspensions and pending sanctions.