Thiago Santos Among 9 PFL Fighters Suspended by Nevada State Athletic Commission

Former UFC star Thiago Santos was one of nine fighters in the Professional Fighters League temporarily suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Friday.

According to ESPN's Marc Raimondi, the fighters will have their suspensions extended at a meeting Wednesday in Las Vegas, meaning they likely won't be able to compete during the 2023 PFL regular season, which starts in June.

While the NSAC did not publicly give a reason for the suspensions, the PFL released the following statement on the matter:

"PFL has been notified by the Nevada State Athletic Commission that several fighters who competed in PFL 2023 Regular Season events this past April have been temporarily suspended until further review by the Commission. The PFL has a zero-tolerance policy related to the usage of banned substances and complies with U.S. State Athletic Commission requirements. Further, as the PFL moves towards the highest level of testing and compliance in the sport, PFL is engaged with USADA on the implementation of its athlete anti-doping program."

Along with Santos, light heavyweights Will Fleury, Krysztof Jotko and Mohammad Fakhreddine have been suspended, as have heavyweights Bruno Cappelozza, Rizvan Kuniev and Cezar Ferreira. The other two suspended fighters are reportedly featherweights Alejandro Flores and Daniel Torres.

Santos, 39, owns a career MMA record of 22-12 with 15 wins by way of knockout. He fought 24 times for UFC, starting in 2013 and culminating last year.

He notably took Jon "Bones" Jones to the scorecards in a UFC light heavyweight title bout at UFC 239 in 2019, with Jones winning by split decision.

Santos lost five of his final six UFC fights before signing with the Professional Fighters League. He made his PFL debut last month, losing to Rob Wilkinson by unanimous decision.

Cappelozza is also a significant loss for the PFL since he won its world heavyweight title in 2021.

As a result of the suspensions, several changes have been made to the PFL season with cards scheduled for June 8, 16 and 23 in Atlanta.