On Thursday, the PFL nonchalantly announced the signing of top French fighter “Lazy King” Abdoul Abdouraguimov.
The promotion made the announcement via their PFL Europe Instagram page, where they posted a photo of the entire scheduled card for PFL Paris that takes place September 30. After his debut at PFL Paris, Abdouraguimov will compete in the league’s welterweight season in 2024.
The ARES FC double champion, Abdouraguimov, is someone who comes with a large following from his home nation of France. With that, there have been loud calls for the 28-year-old to be signed by the promotional powerhouse UFC. With UFC Paris taking place on September 2, fans believed that to be the perfect card for “Lazy King” to make his debut.
It is unknown whether the UFC made an official offer for the Frenchman. Abdouraguimov was previously offered a deal by the Professional Fighters League but he turned it down due to the season dates overlapping with Ramadan.
Abdouraguimov’s last fight came at the end of January where he won the vacant ARES middleweight title to become their welterweight and middleweight champion.
His opponent for his promotional debut has been announced as Quemuel Ottoni, and it will serve as the co-main event. The Brazilian is currently riding a five fight win streak, with wins coming in several different promotions like LFA and Jungle Fight. Ottoni holds a win over Alex Perreira in what was “Poatan’s” MMA debut.
“Lazy King” isn’t the only Frenchman who will be making his highly anticipated PFL debut. Headlining the event is Cedric Doumbe, who was previously scheduled to fight at PFL 6 against Jarrah Hussein Al-Silawi, but due to injury, Doumbe pulled out. He will now fight fellow Frenchman, Jordan Zebo.
Abdoul Abdouraguimov’s Professional Fighters League debut will take place on September 30, 2023 at PFL Paris, at the Zenith Paris La Villette.
