PFL reportedly cuts “roughly a third” of its roster amid pandemic

The PFL has cut a third of its roster amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the day after announcing its 2020 season was postponed.

PFL announced through a press release on Monday that its 2020 season has been postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus crisis. The promotion felt that it wasn’t the right time to go ahead with its third season and instead is shifting its entire calendar a year back. PFL season three is expected to commence in the spring of 2021.

As part of the announcement, PFL also revealed that its fighters would be paid a monthly stipend, news that was met with overwhelmingly positive remarks. However, it appears that some bad news has occurred for the fighters as well, as numerous reports suggest that PFL has cut between a half and a third of its roster.

MMA Brasil first reported that PFL had cut half of its roster. FanSided MMA then spoke to PFL CEO Peter Murray, who said that a “significant majority” of the fighters have been kept. Most recently, Michael Fiedel of TheBodyLockMMA reported that roughly a third of the roster has been cut.

Turns out the PFL has released roughly a third of its roster amid its response to COVID-19, which included the suspension of its 2020 season and monthly stipends for remaining fighters. https://t.co/wenZB2lvN7

— Michael Fiedel (@MichaelFiedel) April 22, 2020

We don’t know who has been kept and who has been cut, but it’s fair to surmise that the top fighters in the promotion — its champions from the first two seasons who are still on the roster and significant free-agent signings like Rory MacDonald — are still on the roster. It’s likely that many of the fighters cut were not top contenders in the promotion, but at this point, we don’t have a definitive list to know for sure.

Thankfully PFL will be taking care of the fighters it still has on its roster by giving them a monthly stipend to tide them over during this tough economic time. But for the fighters that weren’t so lucky, they are now in a very tough spot.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 4/22/2020.