{"id":39494,"date":"2026-07-23T23:07:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T23:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/PFL-DC-event-title-tilt-restructured-after-multiple-fightweek-scratches-202044"},"modified":"2026-07-23T23:07:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T23:07:03","slug":"pfl-dc-event-title-tilt-restructured-after-multiple-fight-week-scratches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/pfl-dc-event-title-tilt-restructured-after-multiple-fight-week-scratches\/","title":{"rendered":"PFL DC event, title tilt restructured after multiple fight-week scratches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

The fight game is an unforgiving one.<\/p>\n

Per
\nMMA Junkie<\/a> on Thursday,
\nPFL DC<\/a> will no longer feature Thad Jean<\/a>
\n(10-0) vs. Shamil
\nMusaev<\/a> (18-1-1) in the main attraction. Due to problems from
\nhis weight cut, Musaev has been forced to withdraw from his
\nwelterweight championship affair headlining the card at the
\nCareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C. In the Russian\u2019s stead will be
\nErnesto
\nRodriguez<\/a> (11-1), who first posted<\/a>
\nof his change in opponent and vastly elevated stakes on Wednesday
\nnight\u2014he was expecting to battle Aaron
\nMcKenzie<\/a>\u2014and then fully confirmed<\/a>
\nthe news shortly after its announcement. Jean did as well shortly
\nthereafter on his Instagram
\nStories<\/a>. PFL released a statement following those social media
\nposts.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A welterweight
\ntitle fight headlines PFL Washington DC: Tune on Saturday, July 25
\nat 10 p.m. ET on ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is one of numerous cancelations on fight week and earlier, as
\n
\nProfessional Fighters League<\/a> athletes Magomed
\nUmalatov<\/a>, Jack
\nCartwright<\/a>, Denis
\nGoltsov<\/a>, Bruno
\nCappelozza<\/a> and Mando
\nGutierrez<\/a> were all booked for this fight card at one time. Due
\nto a number of largely undeclared reasons\u2014Cappelozza encountered
\nissues with his visa\u2014all of those combatants and their scheduled
\npairings have either been canceled or switched around on this card
\nor to another. For instance, Cappelozza vs. Valentin
\nMoldavsky<\/a> has been bumped to
\nPFL Charlotte<\/a> in August. The current PFL DC lineup sees eight
\nmatches remaining, although the promotion has not indicated if any
\nlate-notice fights will be slotted on the billing.<\/p>\n

Jean was vying to become the first U.S.-born PFL champion atop this
\nevent\u2014not including those that won tournaments\u2014and he will still
\nreceive that honor. \u201cSilverback\u201d comes into this five-rounder with
\nample momentum on his side as the winner of the final PFL tourney
\nin 2025. There, he knocked out Mukhamed
\nBerkhamov<\/a>, outworked Jason
\nJackson<\/a> and outperformed Logan
\nStorley<\/a> in the span of four months to claim a $500,000 check
\nand chance for PFL gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarboy\u201d Rodriguez seizes this opportunity having won his PFL
\ndebut in March. Against Masayuki
\nKikuiri<\/a>, he snagged a majority decision despite dropping what
\nmany observers felt was a 10-8 third round, completing a bout in
\nwhich all three Sherdog official scorers turned in 28-28 draw
\ntallies. The fighter born in Cuba worked his way up the Tuff-N-Uff
\nladder from 2022 to 2025, culminating in six wins with the Las
\nVegas-based league to reach a major organization.<\/p>\n

PFL DC Current Lineup<\/h2>\n

Thad
\nJean<\/a> vs. Ernesto
\nRodriguez<\/a> \u2013 welterweight
Tyson
\nPedro<\/a> vs. Rafael
\nXavier<\/a> \u2013 light heavyweight
Sullivan
\nCauley<\/a> vs. Rasul
\nMagomedov<\/a> \u2013 light heavyweight
Eliezer
\nKubanza<\/a> vs. Chris Mixan<\/a>
\n\u2013 welterweight
Bryce
\nMeredith<\/a> vs. Michael Cyr<\/a>
\n\u2013 140-pound catchweight
Brandon
\nDavis<\/a> vs. Nkosi
\nNdebele<\/a> \u2013 140-pound catchweight
Chad
\nYard<\/a> vs. Coby
\nBradford<\/a> \u2013 light heavyweight
Noah
\nHermosillo<\/a> vs. Jacob Pais<\/a> \u2013
\nfeatherweight

<\/p>\n
\n

BREAKING NEWS<\/p>\n

Shamil Musaev is out due to medical reasons. Ernesto Rodriguez
\nsteps in and will now fight against Thad Jean for the vacant PFL
\nWelterweight World Title this Saturday, July 25th#PFLDC<\/a>
\n| Saturday, July 25th | \ud83d\udcfaPrelims 8PM EST on the ESPN App | Main
\nCard 10PM EST\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/M5t46VzA3z<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 John Martin (@JohnMartinPFL)
\nJuly 23, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fight game is an unforgiving one. Per MMA Junkie on Thursday, PFL DC will no longer feature Thad Jean (10-0) vs. Shamil Musaev (18-1-1) in the main attraction. Due to problems from his weight cut, Musaev has been forced to withdraw from his welterweight championship affair headlining the card at the CareFirst Arena in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}