Morquez Forest is off PFL Chicago. The promotion posted its updated fight card on X late Monday afternoon, flagged the lightweight prospect as out, and announced a new matchup in his place: Lenan Khabalev vs. Brock Hamer. The PFL gave no reason for Forest’s exit, and it didn’t say who he had originally been booked to fight. The swap lands four days before the event, which is still set for Friday, October 16, at Wintrust Arena.
Here’s how to watch. The early card starts at 6 p.m. ET on the ESPN App. The main card moves to ESPN 2 at 11 p.m. ET, so Chicago locals are looking at a 10 p.m. Central start for the big fights. Plan your coffee accordingly.
The top of the card
The main event is a PFL Women’s Flyweight World Title fight between Liz Carmouche and Jena Bishop. The PFL is billing Carmouche as an MMA legend and Bishop as a submission specialist. MMA Junkie is calling it Carmouche vs. Bishop 2, so this is a rematch. Carmouche spent Monday working the promotional circuit, arriving for fight week and posing with the belt in a pair of PFL clips. She also had a pointed line about the trash talk heading into Friday. In a video the league posted, Carmouche said the other side can talk as much smack as it wants, but it still has to show up on Friday night.
View post on X
The co-main features Timur Khizriev, the 2024 PFL Featherweight Tournament champion, against Brazil’s Gabriel Braga. The PFL is framing it as Khizriev’s return. It didn’t say how long he’s been away, and that detail matters more to me than any hype package.
View post on X
The new fight
Khabalev vs. Hamer is the fresh addition, and the PFL’s post confirmed only the names. It gave no weight class, no records and no slot on the card, so I’m not going to pretend I know where it airs or what either man brings in. MMA Junkie has a full viewing guide with fighter profiles and odds for the card, and that’s the place to check before you start throwing money at a fight that didn’t exist on Monday morning.
Sal’s take
Late changes are where the books get lazy and the sharp money gets busy. A matchup thrown together four days out tends to open on a soft number because nobody’s had time to do real homework, including the oddsmakers. So I’m watching how Khabalev vs. Hamer opens and which way it drifts by Thursday. If one side gets bet hard right away, somebody knows something about who had the full camp. On Khizriev, I have the same rule I always do. I don’t care how good the résumé is. A fighter coming back from time off at a short price is somebody else’s bet until I know how long he’s been out. Carmouche and Bishop already have one fight’s worth of tape on each other, and that’s real data. I’ll take real data over a highlight reel. Fights go off Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
View post on X
