Abraham Bably prepares to battle Rob Wilkinson at PFL San Diego on June 27th, and the former spotlighted the latter having issues with a banned substance from years ago. Wilkinson claimed the 2022 PFL crown before being pulled from the 2023 season after elevated levels within his testosterone-to-epitestosterone range were found during an in-competition drug test.
As the PFL Africa heavyweight champ prepares to potentially make a pretty big impact at PFL San Diego and assert himself right away as he faces someone in Wilkinson who is a former PFL tournament champion at light heavyweight, Bably said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Mate, I’ll be welcoming him to me. It’s not the other way around. Respectfully, I respect what he’s done. I believe; did I have my debut the same year he won the belt? I’m not too sure. It might have been two years after. So I’ve been watching Rob closely for a long time now. But anyway, I see that he fought a fellow countryman Luke Trainer, and unfortunately it didn’t go his way. It’s the fight game. The fight game’s a b***h. But what do you want me to say, mate? I’m going to knock this kid out [laughs]. I’m going to knock him out, mate.”
“There’s no way. There’s no way he’s going to take a few of these punches and think he’s going to stand there. It’s not a question of what he’s going to do to me. It’s a question of how long he will last with me hitting him. Like my last opponent, my last few opponents have been what? 246s, 250s, 6’4s, 6’5. Rob, 6’3 middleweight fighting at light heavyweight that got popped. Let’s remember that he got popped, and the juice was not the same the last fight, respectfully. So [laughs], we’ll see, man.”
PFL San Diego’s Abraham Bably says Rob Wilkinson “got popped” and “has come back as a different man”
When asked if he feels strongly regarding situations when fighters pop for performance enhancers as he heads into this PFL San Diego contest with some who has errant findings on a prior drug test from years back, Bably stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Not at all, to be honest. But what I do know is it does change you physically. It does change you physically. So 2022 he was on the special juice. 2023, I believe he was on the special juice. Now, as soon as he comes off it, why has the pop now changed? You tell me, mate. You tell me. Soon, as he got popped, he has come back as a different man. So I don’t know. I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out. We will find out. Maybe I’m waffling, which I doubt. But [laughter] we’ll see, mate.”
Touching upon the track records that both of these light heavyweights have for ending fights early and how this can inform their California clash at PFL San Diego, Bably quipped [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Listen, I don’t train for short fights at all. These camps are not preparing for one round. This has been a very hard camp for me. I’ve been in two camps, in fact, for someone else. So, I’ve been training this whole year. The only thing I’ve just needed to do was get my weight down there. Trust me, we will be making that weight. I’m just very excited, mate. I can’t explain the pain and the passion I feel towards this bout. I can’t wait to let that all go. I can’t wait.”
