PFL champ Rob Wilkinson's drug test failure has fans concerned about the promotion's future

PFL light heavyweight champion Rob Wilkinson is reportedly out of his bout against Ty Flores at PFL 4 on June 8. The Australian has been pulled from the fight after he failed a doping test in the wake of his victory over Thiago Santos at PFL 1 last year. Wilkinson will also miss the rest of the 2023 PFL season.

A recent tweet by MMA journalist Alex Behunin confirmed that 'Razor' is the latest PFL fighter to fail a drug test. His last opponent Thiago Santos and Krzysztof Jotko were handed temporary suspensions last month along with suspensions for Bruno Cappelozza and Rizvan Kuniev.

Given the number of fighters failing drug tests, fans and Twitter users expressed their concern over the promotion's future in the comments section of the news post.

One fan joked about the PFL's roster, saying:

"PFL ain’t even gonna have a roster."

Another fan redefined the PFL abbreviation, stating:

"PED Fighting Championship."

One user wrote:

"That's like half of their roster who popped by now lol. Great show PFL."

Another user jokingly wrote:

"PFL: positive-test fight league."

One fan asked:

"How did they all fail the tests they new were coming?"

One user asked:

"Lol who didn't test positive at this point."

Another user wrote:

"PFL have had an absolute stinker."

One fan humorously wrote:

"P in PFL stands for PEDs it seams."

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Did Rob Wilkinson ever fight UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya?

Before working his way up the ranks of the PFL, Rob Wilkinson fought in the UFC from 2017-2018. In his second outing in the UFC, the Australian welcomed debutant Israel Adesanya to the promotion at UFC 221 in February 2018.

While Wilkinson managed to control Adesanya by pinning him against the cage for the majority of the first round, the Australian couldn't survive the onslaught of the Nigerian-born Kiwi's strikes to the body.

'The Last Stylebender' ended up securing a second-round knockout against 'Razor.' Wilkinson was later released by the UFC, having fought in the promotion twice and coming up short on both occasions.

Rob Wilkinson signed with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) in April last year, opting to compete in their light heavyweight division. He faced Bruce Souto in his debut fight and won via a second-round TKO.

The Australian then went on an impressive three-fight unbeaten streak in the PFL and defeated Omari Akhmedov via second-round TKO to become the light heavyweight champion. Rob Wilkinson took home a whopping $1 million prize for his championship victory.