The PFL 4 card on Thursday night has suffered another loss after two-time featherweight champion Lance Palmer was pulled from the event with his new fight now scheduled on June 25 instead.
Palmer was originally scheduled to face late replacement Jesse Stim in the second regular season fight for the former Ohio State All-American wrestler. But now, he’ll have to wait two weeks to compete again.
PFL officials confirmed the move on Wednesday, but did not reveal what led to Palmer being pulled from the fight against Stim, who remains on the card in a fight against Sheymon Moraes.
Meanwhile, Moraes’ original opponent Movlid Khaybulaev was also pulled from the event and now he will serve as Palmer’s opposition on June 25.
Khaybulaev is undefeated in his career with a 16-0 record with one no contest including a stunning 10-second flying knee knockout over Damon Jackson in 2019. He successfully defeated Lazar Stojadinovic in his return to the PFL earlier this year as he seeks to move forward in the featherweight season.
The fight will serve as a do-or-die moment for Palmer after he suffered a unanimous decision loss to Bubba Jenkins in his return to action earlier in the PFL season.
That means Palmer has to win against Khaybulaev to move forward into the playoffs, which will begin later this year.
Palmer dropping off the card comes just hours after former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis was also forced out of his scheduled fight against Alexander Martinez. Pettis will also now compete on the June 25 card when he faces Raush Manfio in a lightweight bout at PFL 6.
Here’s the new lineup for the PFL 4 card on Thursday night with the main card airing on ESPN2 and ESPN+:
Main Card (ESPN2, ESPN+ at 10:00 p.m. ET)
Claressa Shields vs. Brittney Elkin
Clay Collard vs Joilton Lutterbach
Bubba Jenkins vs. Bobby Moffett
Brendan Loughnane vs. Tyler Diamond
Preliminary Card (ESPN+ at 7:00 p.m. ET)
Natan Schulte vs. Alexander Martinez
Marcin Held vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier
Akhmed Aliev vs. Loik Radzhabov