‘Something Stunk’ About PFL Failed Drug Tests

The 2023 Professional Fighters League (PFL) season got off to a rough start.

Kicking off the first leg of action, PFL touched down in Las Vegas for three events, featuring six weight classes. Unfortunately for 10 athletes, two of whom were former champions, they failed drug tests that removed them from their respective tournaments.

In hindsight, the whole ordeal was a strange one for PFL commentator, Randy Couture, as the promotion hadn’t dealt with something like that in its young history.

“I mean, those shows — the three shows we did here in Vegas were great shows,” Couture said in a Las Vegas media scrum. “There were some great fights on those cards, very exciting. I thought the season was off and running. And obviously, to have the tests go the way they did, that certainly didn’t sit well. Something stunk to me. And that’s just my opinion. You know, how many seasons have we done now? And not had a single positive test. And then we come to Vegas for three shows and we have 10? Something’s not quite right there, in my opinion. But who knows? And Dana [White’s] comment about it was telling in my mind, too, ‘I bet they don’t come back to Vegas.’ So who knows? But yeah, that’s unfortunate. And obviously, we pivoted, we plugged in some holes. It’s been an amazing season.”

The myriad of test failures led PFL to tighten up its policy regarding clean fighters, hiring United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to take over testing protocols. USADA was expected to begin working with PFL before 2024, but there hasn’t been any confirmation of such as of yet.

PFL’s 2023 season concludes with the championship event in Washington D.C. on Nov. 24, 2023.