The surprising move comes after the Brazilian pair, who expressed their dissatisfaction with facing one another during the regular season ahead of the bout, competed in what amounted to a low-action sparring match on the PFL 6 preliminary card. Schulte would go on to pick up the win, and (temporarily, as it turns out) a playoff spot, but was seen in tears following the fight.

Schulte is the godfather of Raush Manfio’s daughter.

In a statement issued Saturday, league officials explained their decision, with grants Shane Burgos a playoff spot.

Last Night Natan Schulte and Raush Manfio did not meet the standards which all PFL fighters agree to uphold in competition.

All fighters in their PFL Fight Agreements agree to use their “best efforts … skills and abilities as a professional athlete to compete … and defeat any opponent.”

It was very clear that Natan and Raush did not meet that contractual standard in yesterday’s bout.

PFL immediately suspended both fighters from the season and deemed the fight to have 0 points for purposes of League standings.

PFL takes this action in recognition of its responsibility to all PFL fighters and all PFL fans.

In an interview with Cageside Press ahead of the fight, Manfio called the booking a “terrible situation” and a “bad surprise.” The matchmaking was quickly criticized by fight fans who questioned the need to pair the two up during the regular season, which unlike the post-season isn’t booked via seeding.

Burgos, meanwhile, jumps into the playoffs after earning three points in his first win under the PFL banner. The former UFC featherweight, now competing in the lightweight division, won a unanimous decision against Yamato Nishikawa.

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Olivier Aubin-Mercier was the 2022 PFL lightweight champ, undefeated through seven fights since parting ways with the UFC in 2018. Anthony Romero was the man twice overlooked for a shot in the big show — first on Dana White’s Contender Series and earlier this year on the PFL Challenger Series. But after a spot in the season opened up due to injury, the 26-year old Romero now had the biggest opportunity of his career in front of him.

A polite touch of the gloves (very Canadian) was followed by Romero firing a kick to the body early in the PFL 6 main event. Romero would later go low with a kick, touching the lead leg of Aubin-Mercier, who had taken to holding center, keeping Romero on the fence. Less than 90 seconds in, and OAM appeared to hurt Romero with a right hook. Moments later, an uppercut landed for the champ, but Romero then clipped Aubin-Mercier with a kick!

Romero pressed forward then, with OAM hanging on in the clinch. They broke, and Romero would flash a front kick that missed the mark; Aubin-Mercier landed a right hook once again. It was clear that kicks were a heavy part of Romero’s gameplan, but in the back half of the round, Aubin-Mercier got his hands going, landing several heavy blows on his fellow Canadian.

Round two opened with Romero throwing up another high kick, blocked by Aubin-Mercier. OAM then fired a high kick in return, and a knee to the body moments later. Neither landed clean; OAM then ducked a big swing by Romero. With nothing to lose, Romero might be wise to hunt the knockout, given he needed points to have any hope of making the post-season. Instead, it was Aubin-Mercier finding more success on the feet, until an accidental clash of heads halted the action near the midway mark.

A brief reprieve, and they got going again, with Aubin-Mercier kicking high, and Romero missing a spinning back fist. Surprisingly, perhaps, neither man had shown any inclination to shoot for a takedown through the first half of the fight. Around the 90 second mark, another accidental clash of heads transpired, which left Romero sporting a small cut.

A couple of hard kicks were traded on the restart, when a third head clash, again ruled accidental, almost immediately halted the action. The ref warned both men to watch their heads, and both appeared to have a little extra bounce in their step as they got underway once more.

In the third round, Olivier Aubin-Mercier left nothing to chance. After a foul-filled second, OAM uncorked a head kick that saw the knee connect flush on Romero’s temple. Aubin-Mercier followed up with a single punch as the ref dove in and called it! The third-round finish earned Aubin-Mercier four points; he’ll rematch Natan Schulte in the semifinals, while Clay Collard faces Bruno Miranda in the other semifinal bout.

Canadian Gangster things. #2023PFL6 pic.twitter.com/vAj6J1TTef

— Cageside Press (@Cagesidepress) June 24, 2023

Official Result: Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Anthony Romero by knockout (knee), Round 3, 0:28

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Burgos technically could have made the post-season with a three point decision win and a lot of help the five fighters ahead of him in the standings (all had three points already), while someone who also had no points yet could leapfrog him with a finish of their own.

Regardless, a finish was key as Burgos faced Yamato Nishikawa, a twenty year old with already thirty-one fights to his name who lost to Clay Collard by decision in a violent battle in his own promotional debut earlier this year. Shane Burgos perhaps represented an even tougher test, but Nishikawa showed he refuses to quit in that Collard fight, almost finishing the former pro boxer with leg kicks despite being beaten up for three rounds.

The fight started with both fighters in orthodox stance. Burgos tentatively had the better of the striking and pressed forward, but Nishikawa remained active. Ninety seconds in he changed things up with a rare takedown, a double leg with which he established with relative ease a strong control from the card of the smaller man. Burgos was unable to posture up for about a minute, at which point he landed some good strikes. Nishikawa stayed active with much weaker strikes from his back and was again able to keep Shane from posturing up until one minute left. At that point, Burgos got the Japanese fighter to the fence and postured up to land big strikes, though not necessarily clean ones through the guard, to put a stamp on the round, leaving no doubt. However, he did not get the six-point first round finish he needed.

Round two began with an immediate body lock slam by Burgos when Nishikawa entered over-aggressively. He established top half and was able to land some short strikes while maintaining tight control on Nishikawa. Yamato eventually re-guarded but still ate strikes from Shane Burgos, albeit no massive ones and he stayed active off his back, fighting for grips and throwing up strikes. He did not, however, open up his guard, mainly using his leg for heel kicks on his opponent and so remained on bottom until the bell.

Burgos did not open with a takedown in round 3, but he landed good strikes on the feet including a sharp left hook. He buckled the leg of Nishikawa later on and followed with a big right. He forced his opponent backwards and then did shoot and land a takedown against the fence. Burgos landed in side control but Nishikawa immediately regained full guard again.  Burgos tried to pass but was denied, though again he could do more damage from top than Yamato Nishikawa could from the bottom, as one would expect. Burgos stayed strong on top but did not approach a finish, which would really help in case of tiebreaker with Olivier-Aubin Mercier. He exploded and landed his biggest ground and pound strikes of the fight, ripping body hooks, Nishikawa made it to the final bell with plenty of fight left in him.

With this, Burgos was knocked from PFL playoff contention, but the decision still awaited. When it was read Burgos awarded all three rounds, with a dominant 10-8 round in one of those rounds, from each judge.

Official Result: Shane Burgos def. Yamato Nishikawa by Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

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In the main event, 2022 lightweight champ Olivier Aubin-Mercier was paired up with fellow Canadian Anthony Romero, a Challenger Series (not to mention Contender Series) alum who has just one loss among his 13 professional fights to date.

Also featured on the card, the welterweight division, with 2022 champ Sadibou Sy looking to work his way back to a second championship against Shane Mitchell. Lightweight and former UFC star Shane Burgos, meanwhile, needed to make something explosive happen if he was the make the 2022 semifinal round.

Burgos was paired up with Japan’s Yamato Nishikawa.

Weigh-ins for the 2023 PFL 6 card took place Thursday in Atlanta; full results can be found below.

2023 PFL 6: Aubin-Mercier vs. Romero Weigh-In Results

Main card

Lightweight: Olivier Aubin-Mercier (155.6) vs. Anthony Romero (155.4)
Welterweight: Sadibou Sy (170.6) vs. Shane Mitchell (170.8)
Lightweight: Shane Burgos (155.8) vs. Yamato Nishikawa (155.8)
Lightweight: Clay Collard (155.6) vs. Stevie Ray (155.1)

Preliminary card

Welterweight: Magomed Magomedkerimov (171) vs. David Zawada (170.2)
Welterweight: Magomed Umalatov (170.4) vs. Nayib López (170)
Lightweight: Natan Schulte (156) vs. Raush Manfio (156)
Welterweight: Carlos Leal (170.6) vs. Dilano Taylor (171.2)*
Lightweight: Alex Martinez (156) vs. Bruno Miranda (155.8)
Welterweight: Jarrah Al-Silawi (170.8) vs. Solomon Renfro (169.4)
Featherweight: Brahyan Zurcher (146.8 lbs)** vs. Mike Bardsley (144.4)
Lightweight: Abdullah Al-Qahtani (144.8) vs. Lamar Brown (146)

* Taylor misses weight, hitting 171.4 and later 171.2 on his second attempt. Taylor has been given a 1-point penalty, though he is still eligible to win points, and will forfeit 20% of his purse to Carlos Leal.

** Zurcher misses weight, will forfeit 20% of his show purse to Bardsley. 

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Manfio (17-4), who won the 2021 PFL lightweight season, is scheduled to face Natan Schulte in his second fight of the year — a fellow fighter who is his best friend, and godfather to his daughter.

“It’s a terrible situation man, to be honest. Not one of us is happy with this,” Manfio told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “We were ready to fight each other in the semifinals, or the dream is the finals.”

Against all odds, Manfio is hoping that the fight falls apart — which might be a first in mixed martial arts, where athletes generally dread opponents pulling out. To be clear, Manfio wants to fight on Friday, just not against his friend.

“We got really surprised with this match,” noted Manfio, “but you never know, maybe by then, after the weigh-in, someone got five pounds over the limit and they change this match-up last minute. But we both are ready to kill. It doesn’t matter who we need to fight. We’re ready.”

Manfio and Schulte, a two-time PFL lightweight champion himself, had spoken of the possibility of facing off before, they just didn’t expect the fight to come so soon. Especially with so many other fighters in the weight class. “Like for example, they put a new guy, a newcomer [Anthony Romero] to make the main event against OAM [Olivier Aubin-Mercier], and they put this match-up for us.”

“This was a huge bad surprise,” Manfio added.

“Imagine, put yourself in my place, if you need to fight your best friend. It’s not like [Alex] Martinez and OAM, when they fought in the semifinals. Last week, I got to have dinner at his house. We are really family. So it’s weird. It’s really weird.”

So weird that Manfio is preparing for the fight “physically and mentally thinking I’m going to fight another guy,” he added.

With all that having been said, if nothing crazy scuttles the fight prior to Friday, Manfio is certain that there will be no holding back. Especially since a finish may be needed to advance to the post-season.

“We try everything to not fight. If we fight, we fight 100%, so we need a finish. Just like any other fight,” Manfio stated. “We need to respect each other, honor each other, we are friends no matter what. But if this happens — I don’t this to happen, but if this happens at the end of the day, we need to fight for real. He’s going to try to finish me in the first round, and I’m going to try to finish him in the first round. If we fight, there’s no 50% fight. It’s always 100%.”

Watch our full interview with 2023 PFL 6 lightweight Raush Manfio above.

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OAM currently holds the fort for Canadian MMA, as the defending 2022 PFL lightweight champion. With TriStar teammates and fellow champs Georges St-Pierre (UFC welterweight and middleweight champ) and Rory MacDonald (Bellator MMA welterweight champ) retired, Aubin-Mercier remains the most decorated fighter in the nation.

The UFC hadn’t been to Canada in over three years before it returned to the Rogers Arena in Vancouver earlier this month, and Aubin-Mercier was thrilled to see the success of his fellow Canadians.

“What’s the name of the guy from Toronto, I’m not sure— anyway the guy looked like me, but evil me. He won by guillotine I think,” former UFC lightweight Aubin-Mercier noted during Wednesday’s PFL 6 media day. “I was so happy with their performance. I think we needed that, I think Canada needed. It was awesome to see.”

“Aiemann [Zahabi] fought super well, Marc-Andre [Barriault] fought super well, I forgot everybody else. But everybody fought well, I was really impressed with the event, continued Aubin-Mercier. “I was really happy, really really happy.”

Olivier Aubin-Mercier fights fellow Canadian Anthony Romero this Friday in Atlanta, GA. And as has been the norm for the Canadian, there’s been no hard sparring ahead of the fight.

“I do light sparring just to keep my mind sharp,” he said on Wednesday, noting that he forgoes heavier gloves, and doesn’t do any sparring where partners are trying to land heavy/knockout blows. On top of that, “I don’t get hit a lot in training I would say.”

That approach appears to be paying off for “The Canadian Gangster,” who has won seven straight fights and is unbeaten since parting ways with the UFC in 2019.

Watch the full 2023 PFL 6 media day appearance by Olivier Aubin-Mercier above.

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Burgos (15-4) dropped his season and promotional debut earlier this year, suffering a decision loss against 2022 champ Olivier Aubin-Mercier back in April. Now, it’s all or nothing for a playoff spot, and Burgos knows not just a win, but a finish, is required to move on in the season.

Opponent Yamato Nishikawa is a tough fighter, Burgos noted during Wednesday’s media day, and “The main thing I think about is that I basically need that quick six, or a second round finish. So his toughness is definitely in my head.”

“I’ve got to take this guy out, and him being tough to take out is definitely going to play a factor in it. But at the end of the day, I think I’m better than him anywhere, so my primary mission, primary goal is to get that quick six.”

Clearly unhappy with his performance earlier this year, Burgos later pointed out that the season format has him competing at a pace reminiscent of his amateur days. Of course, there’s a lot more incentive now — he’s getting paid, after all — but as an added bonus, he gets to move past the loss quicker.

“I have a bad taste in my mouth about my last fight, so to get that taste out, let it go, focus fully on this one was huge,” said Burgos.

Aside from that, training in the PFL requires a “completely different training camp,” especially for the second fight. “That first fight was basically balls to the wall, full steam. This one kind of had to be a little bit of a taper down process, then taper back up, then taper back down because you’re kind of recovering from that fight camp. But the way the season structured is, it’s basically one big fight camp, so I think the smart thing to do is start it off hard, and then try to maintain staying in shape for the rest of the season.”

Watch the full 2023 PFL 6 media day appearance by Shane Burgos above.

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This Friday at PFL 6, however, Romero (12-1), one of the top rising talents in Canadian MMA, finally arrives. Stepping up as an injury replacement, the lightweight has been paired up with 2022 champ Olivier Aubin-Mercier, who has not suffered a loss since exiting the UFC a couple of years back.

In a recent interview with Cageside Press, Romero explained how it all went down.

“I guess going back from February, we all know that I didn’t get selected. Nothing new there, second time,” Romero recalled. “But I didn’t get selected, I was supposed to be a replacement for maybe like a showcase bout, something like that. So it was just all about being patient, and hoping that, not in a bad way, but hoping that someone would get hurt or not be able to make the fight so I could step in.”

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride comes to mind when you think about Romero. Being passed over on multiple occasions might bother some fighters, but “The Genius” is nothing if not mentally sound.

“You still have the goal in mind. I think that’s the, I guess you could say, the motivation, that you have the goal in mind. You don’t just stop because someone says no,” noted Romero. “All the greatest people in the world that have ever done something with their life have always ran into the word ‘no’ and kept pushing forward, and something came out of it. So you gotta keep pushing, and that’s what happened.”

Of course, another way of looking at Romero’s main event fight at PFL 6 is that it basically landed in his lap. As he put it, “I didn’t really do anything. I fought, I didn’t get selected, and it’s kind of funny because the same thing with the Contender Series, I fought, I felt like I had a great performance, I didn’t get selected. So when I tried, I didn’t get picked, and I guess when I didn’t try, I got picked.”

Some would call this a no-lose situation for Romero, and a dangerous fight for OAM. Romero’s own mindset is that “this is the greatest opportunity I could have to show my skillset against you can say the top guy, one of the top guys in the world.”

“I beat this guy, I’m the new champ. I’m the guy everyone wants to beat. And that’s good, that’s good for me. This is the position I’ve been fighting for for many years, and I’m glad the opportunity finally popped up.”

Of course, Romero won’t actually be the champ — that’s not how the PFL works. And he’s been paired up with the only other Canadian fighter in the promotion, aside from women’s featherweight Julia Budd. Of all the fights to land, he’s fighting the one other Canadian he possibly could fight.

“Unfortunately yeah. I have no negative energy towards him or hate him or anything like that. That’s the way the format is,” said Romero, who actually likes the format because it takes the politics out of fighting. “I like it personally, because there’s no guys that will be like ‘no I’m not fighting this guy because he’s not close to my ranking.'”

“This would never happen, so far anyways, in the UFC. I would not get signed to the UFC and be fighting Islam Makhachev. He’s not going to say yes, he’s not going to agree to it,” noted Romero. “And that’s the thing that I like about this. Everyone fights everyone, you’re signed, you don’t really get a say in who you fight, and that’s the way it is.”

Watch our full interview with PFL 6 headliner Anthony Romero above. The event takes place this Friday, June 23, 2023 at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta, GA.

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It was an explosive start for the Russian standout, as he knocked out Dilano Taylor in little more than 90 seconds. Umalatov is predicting more of the same to come ahead of PFL 6, where he’ll face Nayib Lopez.

“I think in general, welterweight is one of those divisions where people have a lot of action, and try to finish up in the first round,” Umalatov told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “So that’s what you saw in the first round of fights, and I think you’re pretty much going to see the same in the second round — so expect to see more knockouts.”

When it comes to what he’s expecting from Lopez, who went the distance in his first fight of the season, Umalatov didn’t need his translator.

“I don’t know, maybe his plan is to take me down, take me down, but I think it’s impossible. I can give him my leg, because I’m very confident in my skills. Striking, wrestling, doesn’t matter. I’m going to knock him out in the first round.”

That confidence was on display throughout our conversation with Umalatov. Neck-and-neck with teammate Magomed Magomedkerimov, a former PFL champ, Umalatov believes he’ll fight his friend in the finale.

“I think the way we are, I consider us to be the two best welterweights in the division, and I think eventually we’re going to end up facing each other in the final,” predicted Umalatov. “So I think that would be a great match-up too.”

The arrival of GLORY kickboxing champion Cedric Doumbe to the PFL’s welterweight division has not gone unnoticed by Umalatov. The French standout joins the promotion mid-season, and Umalatov has already reached out to the newcomer, who is 4-0 in his career to date.

“I saw one video, he talked about all the guys, about me. I think for me, it’s an easy fight,” said Umalatov. “I sent him a message, like ‘I’m going to take you into deep waters.’ I don’t know, I think it’s an easy fight for me. He’s just a striker. This is a different game.”

As for Doumbe’s response, Umalatov told us that “he just replied with a smile, and then his fan base basically started coming after me.” As far as Doumbe’s chances of making the playoffs, to Umalatov, they’re rather slim.

“I think this is really difficult, because top [three] guys, we have six points, and Sadibou Sy has five points,” he noted. “Maybe I can beat him next year. We’ll see.”

One glaring oversight on the upcoming PFL 6 card is Umalatov’s placement on the prelims— given he’s in first place overall in the 170lb standings.

“I actually didn’t think about that,” admitted Umalatov. And while he’s not overly worried about it, he added with a laugh “It’s a big mistake. It’s a big mistake.”

Watch our full interview with PFL 6 welterweight Magomed Umalatov above.

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Now he has a new sport to conquer. Doumbe calls himself a “man of impossible,” one who does seemingly impossible things while looking for new challenges. The latest is his crossover to MMA, which Doumbe told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview was inspired in part by Conor McGregor.

“I cannot lie. When I saw Conor McGregor putting MMA at that level, I’m like ‘I can do it too. I’m better than him,” Doumbe recalled, just over a month out from his PFL debut. “I knew that I was better than him and I knew that I could do better things than he does. So that’s why I say ‘okay, I’m going.”

Admittedly, his time in the kickboxing world had grown stale.

“Kickboxing is boring for me now. I’ve won everything in kickboxing. It’s always the same opponent, no challenge anymore, so I wanted a change, to step up. And then I started to like watching MMA, watching BJJ, grappling, wrestling and then I started to train. And then I was like ‘okay that’s a new challenge. I will prove that I will do it, I will prove that I’m the best in MMA.'”

Self-belief is something Doumbe clearly has in spades. “I’m the best fighter, not only the best kickboxer on the planet, also the best fighter,” said Doumbe — who knows he has to not just say it, but prove it. “It’s all about proof. It’s all about to prove to people that I’m the best, and back it up.”

Starting his career 4-0 on the regional scene, Cedric Doumbe had intended to prove himself in the UFC, signing with the promotion last year. He was booked for a fight with Darian Weeks at UFC Paris in early September, an event Cageside Press was on hand for. Shortly before the arrival of the UFC’s debut in France, however, Doumbe was pulled from the card — with the local athletic commission ruling he did not have enough experience to compete.

In mixed martial arts, that may have been true. Taking into account his kickboxing record, however, Doumbe was the vastly more experienced fighter in comparison to Weeks.

Calling the situation “really tough for me, psychologically,” Doumbe noted that he still attended UFC Paris — in the audience. “I was very sad, watching those fighters performing in front of my eyes. And I was very, just distracted, because I really wanted to fight, I wanted to perform in front of the French audience, in front of my people. But it is what it is.”

As for the snafu with the commission, “that rule, it’s very weird. As you say, regarding my kickboxing experience, my fight experience, that’s very insane,” he added. There is a silver lining, at least: the commission (the French Mixed Martial Arts Federation, who sanctioned UFC Paris) is looking at revising the rule. “That rule is to protect fighters. The commission is still smart, they are changing the rule, because of my case they are changing that, and now it’s going to be better. But for now the rule stays.”

If the PFL were to book a Paris card tomorrow, Doumbe pointed out, “I can’t fight.”

Many expected Doumbe to simply stay on with the UFC and fight at a later date. His release, and eventual signing with the PFL, came as something of a surprise.

“After that journey we went back to negotiations with UFC, and then ONE FC came, and then Bellator, and then PFL came on the table. PFL offered me a way better contract,” Doumbe revealed. After taking time to think about it, said Doumbe, “my team and me figured out that PFL is the best choice.”

Doumbe previously stated his PFL offer was 10 times that of the UFC, though he clarified it’s 10 times more than the basic UFC deal. The UFC did offer him better than the average entry level contract — though Doumbe noted he’s still making five times what the UFC ultimately offered him fighting for the PFL.

Now, the kickboxing champ enters the PFL season late, knowing he needs a finish to make the welterweight playoffs. “So I have to swing between looking for the knockout and doing my best, doing my job. Because when I do my job very well, the knockout comes, just easy.” That, Doumbe would go on to say, is “a very strange feeling.”

At PFL 6, Cedric Doumbe meets Jarrah Al-Silawi, a fighter he calls “a big challenge.”

“Jarrah is a very good opponent. He’s the best I have faced since the last one. With all due respect to my last opponents, but Jarrah is better than them. Way better than them. A lot of experience. And he’s angry, because he just lost two times.”

But remember, Doumbe is a “man of impossible.” “I love to prove that I can do it. So yes, I’m aware that he’s a big challenge, a big fighter, and he has way more experience than me. I’m aware of that, but I will beat him. Because I’m the best.”

Watch our full interview with Cedric Doumbe above. Doumbe makes his promotional debut at PFL 6 on June 23, 2023.

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