Renan Ferreira may be steadfast in his declarations that he didn’t fake a tap during his PFL fight with Fabricio Werdum, but apparently the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board thinks otherwise.
Werdum and Ferreira fought in the main event of PFL 3, with the winner earning points to advance to a heavyweight playoff tournament later in the year. But controversy erupted after Werdum caught Ferreira in a triangle choke and seemed to force a tap out of his opponent. Moments later Ferreira pulled out of the submission and rained down hammerfists on Werdum, knocking him out.
“In my mind it was over because I feel when he tapped my shoulder,” Werdum said shortly after the fight. “This is why I stopped the fight. I stopped and he keeps going to punch my head. The referee don’t see nothing. When you tap you have to stop the fight. But, it happened and everyone saw he tapped for sure and he knows he tapped.”
Before his finish against Fabricio Werdum, Renan Ferreira appeared to tap Werdum twice on the shoulder. #2021PFL3 pic.twitter.com/1M5ktz4xX4
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 7, 2021
Now the New Jersey sports commission that oversaw the fight is agreeing with Werdum and overturning the fight result. According to ESPN’s Marc Raimondi the bout has now been declared a No Contest … which is a bit odd. If they’re saying the tap was legit, then shouldn’t Fabricio be given the full W? But hey, in a world where athletic commissions rarely bother to go back and fix obvious mistakes (even with clear video evidence), we’ll take what we can get.
The PFL fight between Fabricio Werdum and Renan Ferreira from last Thursday night has been overturned to a no contest by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. Story coming to @espnmma.
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) May 10, 2021
Very rare that an athletic commission overturns a result, let alone this quickly. Definitely a lot of work put in by Werdum’s manager @AliAbdelaziz00 with the NJSACB to get a resolution in this case four days later.
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) May 10, 2021
I want to thank the New Jersey Athletic Commission, Mr. Nick Lembo who worked all weekend on over turning Fabricio Werdum’s decision to a NO Contest from his last week at PFL. I also want to thank PFL for quickly providing all of the necessary evidence.
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) May 10, 2021
The switch brings Werdum’s record to 24-9-1 (1 NC). No word on whether the PFL will be adjusting the playoff points awarded due to the commission decision. There’s also a question of whether Ferreira was paid a win bonus and if that will be clawed back too. All in all a bad day for Ferreira, who is now 6-2-0 (1 NC). It was both men’s first fight in the PFL.