Shane Burgos sympathizes with Natan Schulte after taking his 2023 PFL playoff spot.
Although Schulte qualified for the lightweight playoffs based on his results, the PFL announced it removed the 2019 PFL champion from the playoffs after promotion officials deemed Schulte and his opponent, Raush Manfio, who’s a close friend and teammate, didn’t put their “best efforts” in the fight as they were contracted to do.
As a result, former UFC fighter Burgos was given a semifinal spot in the playoffs after he thought he had been eliminated. Burgos is happy for the opportunity, but feels weird for taking Schulte’s spot.
“I sympathize with those guys,” Burgos told Fight Bananas. “I’m not a heartless motherf*cker. I get it, man. They’re best friends – like godfather of the other one’s daughter. That’s a sh*t position to be in. I do feel for them in that position. Watching it backstage, you could tell they didn’t want to hurt each other. I sympathize with them because I’ve never been in that position to fight a teammate, let alone a best friend. So I do feel for them.”
Burgos is one of PFL’s biggest signings. When asked to respond to critics claiming it was a ploy by the promotion to get him in the playoffs, Burgos said he sees where people are coming from with the theory.
“I can see what you guys are saying,” Burgos said. “Listen, if you ask me, ‘Do I deserve to be in this position?’ Yes, I do think I deserve to be in this position. But do I think I deserve to be in this position more so than Natan? No, I don’t. The dude, no matter what, he has two wins going to the playoffs. I think he does deserve it moreso than I am.
“At the end of the day, it says win on his record over Manfio and it says win on his record over Stevie Ray. he has two and I’m 1-1, so yeah, he deserves it more than I do. I still think I deserve it overall, but not more than him. If you’ve got to pick four guys, the four guys that have two wins each, those guys deserve it ahead of me. I’m the fifth guy, the next guy in line after that.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL 2023, Week 6.
