PFL Paris event canceled amidst investigation into domestic violence recording of headliner

Val Dewar

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PFL Paris event canceled amidst investigation into domestic violence recording of headliner image

Event cancelations are beginning to take a major toll on the Professional Fighter's League.

Each of their last two PFL Europe cards scheduled for Paris have been scratched, as the promotion announced the cancelation of the May 23, 2025 card on Thursday morning.

The promotion declined to announce the reason for the cancelation, but it may be connected to the recent police investigation into headlining fighter Mansour Barnaoui.

Lawyers for his ex-partner, "Ms. Joanne H," released a statement calling for PFL to remove Barnaoui from the card.

re: PFL cancels Paris event again

Recent reports have surfaced involving Mansour Barnaoui, who is under criminal investigation for domestic violence.

Here’s a translated statement (via ChatGPT) from the lawyer representing Ms. Joanne H. pic.twitter.com/YXla76faVa
— Al Zullino (@phre) May 8, 2025

The video and allegations in question first surfaced in October of 2023, when Barnaoui competed in the Bellator lightweight division.

There is no information on the status of the police investigation, although the lawyer's statement mentions that detectives have never interviewed Mansour regarding this case.

Barnaoui won the ROAD FC lightweight tournament in 2019, then took three years off before signing with Bellator in 2022.

He has competed already for the PFL since the buyout of Bellator, winning by submission in both the PFL-operated Bellator Champions Series as well as on the PFL Championships card last year in Saudi Arabia.

Official statement on PFL Paris.

PFL Europe heads to the ING Arena in Brussels on Saturday 5th July.

Ticket information to follow.#PFLBrussels | Saturday 5th July | LIVE ON DAZN pic.twitter.com/s0fDPMT1sI
— PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) May 8, 2025

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Val Dewar

Val was initiated into Steelers Nation from the moment he was born — his first memory is a game vs. New England from when "Slash" was QB — and doing sports writing has always been a dream career for him. In 2022 he broke into the industry by writing about combat sports for Cageside Press, and now has the opportunity to continue that work with TSN as an MMA writer, as well as get his feet wet on the Steelers beat.