PFL tells Ali Abdelaziz not to attend any event until battery case is resolved

Following an incident that took place at a recent Professional Fighters League event earlier this month, the PFL has requested that manager Ali Abdelaziz not attend any events moving forward. Abdelaziz was involved in an altercation with another manager, Abe Kawa, in which Las Vegas Police reported that Abdelaziz struck Kawa in the face with a closed fist.

After the police opened up an investigation to the incident, PFL has decided to keep Abdelaziz away from events for the immediate future until the case is resolved. As first reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN, the PFL has requested that Abdelaziz does not attend any PFL events.

Shortly after the incident, video surfaced of former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and Abdelaziz had to be separated at the PFL event which was held on October 11 in Las Vegas. Malki Kawa, the brother of Abe, took to social media following the incident and said Abdelaziz “crossed the line” by assaulting his brother.

On the eve of their next event, the Professional Fighters League released a statement through ESPN, regarding the incident with Abdelaziz.

“At league direction, Ali Abdelaziz will not be attending upcoming postseason events. Given the fact this is a legal matter, the league has no further comment at this time.”

In response to the statement from PFL, Abdelaziz spoke to ESPN and released his own statement, saying he hopes to keep the focus on his fighters.

“I spoke to PFL executives earlier this week and I don’t want this story to be about me. The focus should be on my athletes in the PFL. I have 10 athletes fighting in the PFL on Thursday and we made sure everybody made weight and has everything they need. I continue to support my athletes.”

Ali Abdelaziz has strong ties to the PFL as he was formerly the matchmaker when the promotion was the World Series Of Fighting, they transitioned to the PFL brand in 2017.

This was not the first incident this year in which Abdelaziz has found himself involved in, as earlier this year he got into an altercation with welterweight contender Colby Covington in Las Vegas. Ali Abdelaziz was with his client, newly crowned welterweight champion Kamaru Usman when the three individuals got into it in a crowd of people at a casino. “Chaos” Covington just took aim at Abdelaziz over this recent incident, saying he would talk to the President of the United States about deporting the Dominance MMA manager.

Professional Fighters League will be holding their next event on Thursday night which will see their featherweight and lightweight playoffs continue. In the main event, Lance Palmer, who is managed by Abdelaziz, will take on Gadzhi Rabadanov. The event will air prelims on ESPN2 and the main card on ESPN+, all starting at 8pm EST.