PFL's 2023 European Bantamweight Champion Khurshed Kakhorov is out of his Playoff clash against Dean Garnett.
'Killer' was set to meet UK MMA veteran Garnett at the OVO Hydro on September 28 but has been forced off the card due to an undisclosed injury, he has been forced from the card.
Federico Fasciano will step up on a little over three weeks notice to take his place. The Playoff bout will be the first time the 31-year-old has competed on British shores, having fought all but two of his seven fights in his native Italy.
In his first year as a professional, in 2018, 'Sfascià' fought three times and racked up three wins, all by way of stoppage.
After an impressive initial run, Fasciano took four years away from competition, not returning to the cage until March 2022.
He dropped a close split decision on his return but has since built another three fight win streak, most recently competing in May 2024.
Garnett's PFL journey has already been a unorthodox one to say the least. The 36-year-old was set to face Ayton De Paepe in the opening round of the 2024 PFL European Season but at the 11th hour, the bout was pulled as complications with De Paepe's weight cut led to him ultimately falling ill prior to hitting the scales.
Due to this, Garnett was given an automatic spot in the Playoffs .
The winner of the Bantamweight bout will punch their ticket to their first PFL European Championship bout, which will take place on December 14 in Lyon, France.
On the other side of the Bantamweight bracket, Alexander Luster will face Julien Lopez, in Glasgow. Luster made it to the Playoffs with a slick submission victory over Alperen Karabulut in under two minutes. Like Fasciano, Lopez was not one of the eight original athletes booked for the tournament but after Luke Shanks was pulled from the card during fight week, the Frenchman made the trip to Newcastle and pulled off one of the upsets of the night with a first round submission win against Dominique Wooding.
