The story
Founded by Donn Davis in 2012.1
History
Founding and WSOF acquisition
The World Series of Fighting (WSOF) was formed in 2012, after signing a broadcast deal with the NBC Sports Network. Soon after WSOF's first event was announced, it would be confirmed that Bas Rutten and Michael Schiavello would be commentators.
Jazz Securo was the official voice and Ring Announcer of WSOF.
The WSOF held over 35 events in multiple countries including the United States, Canada, Japan, China and the Philippines, and was best known for featuring fighters such as Justin Gaethje, Marlon Moraes and Lance Palmer.
In 2017, MMAX Investment Partners, a group of McLean, Virginia investors, which included financier Russ Ramsey, Mark Leschly, businessman Ted Leonsis, Washington Nationals' owner Mark Lerner and future Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, acquired the assets of the WSOF. It was announced that the WSOF would be restructured as the Professional Fighters League (PFL), with owner Davis as founder and with the inaugural season taking place in 2018. After the restructuring, WSOF CEO Carlos Silva and WSOF president and co-founder Ray Sefo joined PFL, with Silva as president of PFL and Sefo as president of fight operations. Sefo was previously an MMA fighter and a six-time Muay Thai world champion. In January 2018, former National Football League executive Peter Murray was appointed CEO of the league. That year, in its inaugural season as the PFL, the promotion introduced a league model, the first MMA promotion to do so.
2020–2021
Following a partnership with blockchain reward app Socios.com in October 2020, PFL launched a fan non-fungible token (NFT) and became the first sports league to launch such a token.
In February 2021, PFL announced a $65 million financing round which expanded the total funding to $175 million. The funding round was led by Ares Capital, Elysian Park Ventures, and Knighthead Capital.
In March 2021, Hall of Fame American football player Ray Lewis joined the PFL athlete advisory board.
In April 2021, former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch and rapper Wiz Khalifa both became PFL investors. Lynch joined the ownership group, while Khalifa is an advisor. That same month, DraftKings was named the first official sportsbook and daily fantasy partner of the PFL. DraftKings would sponsor the league's pre-fight shows and use their in-fighting technology and capturing real-time data for future prop bets.
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In August 2021, PFL announced a long-term partnership with Legends Hospitality, with the company purchasing a minority ownership stake.
2022–present
In April 2022, games publisher Rival Games signed a partnership with PFL, its first with an MMA company. The deal was intended to create a gaming community for PFL and allow fans to host tournaments. In that same month, PFL signed a deal with social platform millions.co for group/party streaming. In May 2022, PFL revealed that they completed a $30 million equity round to aid in global expansion efforts and a new Pay-per-view division. Baseball player Alex Rodriguez was involved the raise and, with Daniel Leff, joined PFL's board of directors. That same month, Murray told daily newspaper the New York Post that PFL was coming back to New York City for its 2022 playoffs, with the first playoff held at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on August 5, 2022. Later that month, Live Nation Entertainment signed a deal with PFL to broadcast the 2022 playoffs in the UK, as PFL planned to host playoffs in the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff and the Copper Box Arena in London in August 2022, following a first event in New York City.
In June 2022, PFL fighter and two-time lightweight champion Kayla Harrison was nominated for an ESPY award. In July 2022, PFL announced plans for a European league, starting in 2023. The regional league will be called PFL Europe.
In January 2023, the PFL announced a new division, known as Super Fight, with events on pay-per-view, co-founded by major influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul. Paul's title is Head of Fighter Advocacy. Super Fight participants will earn at least 50 percent of the pay-per-view revenue, significantly higher than the 20 percent earned by fighters in the UFC.
After ten PFL athletes – including former champions – failed their drug tests during the first half of season 2023, the organization decided to hire USADA to oversee and test their athletes for banned substances, much akin to what their rival UFC has already implemented.
On August 30, 2023, the promotion announced that it had sold a minority stake for an initial investment of $100 million to SRJ Sports Investments – a branch of Public Investment Fund. As part of the agreement, SRJ supported creating PFL MENA (Middle East and North Africa) regional league. Following the deal, the previously published PPV super fight series events will be hosted in Saudi Arabia. This investment was Saudi Arabia’s first foray into MMA and will allow the PFL to “encroach into the UFC’s Middle East territory.”
Acquisition of Bellator MMA
On November 20, 2023, it was announced that the PFL had acquired its competitor Bellator MMA from Paramount Global, which aimed to make PFL “a global powerhouse and poised to become a co-leader” according to chairman Donn Davis. Although the purchase amount was not disclosed, Bellator’s value was previously estimated at $500 million. As part of the announcement, Davis confirmed that the Bellator brand would continue as a separate “reimagined” league with its athletes able to compete in PFL events. The first crossover card was held in February 2024 in Saudi Arabia, featuring pairings of champions from each promotion in four weight classes and the first female MMA bout held in Saudi Arabia. An eight-event Bellator Champions Series was also established, with its inaugural event held on March 22, 2024, and others scheduled in the US, England, and France later in the year.
Merger with MVP
In July 2026, it was announced that PFL would merge with the Most Valuable Promotions organization. The new company will be backed by existing PFL investors Founding Investors 885 Capital and Knighthead Capital Management while being led by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian with PFL executive John Martin still as CEO. The combined company will operate under the MVP banner.
Event history
2018
The inaugural season had 72 fighters in six weight-classes, competing in seven regular season events on Thursday nights in June, July and August. The top eight in each weight-class faced off in bracket-style, single elimination playoff fights on Saturday nights in October. The PFL 2018 season concluded on December 31, 2018, with six championship bouts back-to-back with a $10 million prize pool. The first season was headlined by a fight between Andre Harrison about Jumabieke Tuerxun and featured bouts in the featherweight and heavyweight divisions.
In 2018, the seven regular-season events were held at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, the Chicago Theatre, GWU Smith Center, Nassau Coliseum and Ocean Resort Casino. The playoff events was held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the Long Beach Arena, and the St. Elizabeths East Entertainment and Sports Arena. The championship event was held at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
2019
The PFL 2019 regular season consisted of six weight classes and six events spanning from May to August. Playoffs consisted of three events and the season culminates with the Championship Event on New Year's Eve 2019.
2020
The PFL 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a measure to relieve the financial pressure of the athletes, the organization decided to hand out monthly stipends to the contracted fighters. Reactions to the stipend were mixed, with fighter Lance Palmer complaining about the amount of the stipend and with fighter Natan Schulte applauding the monthly stipend. According to multiple fighters, the stipend was $1,000 per month.
In September 2020, PFL introduced a new series called "Inside the Season," produced in partnership with the United States Marine Corp, that detailed the journey fighters go on through training, regular season, playoffs and championships. The series is narrated by actor John C. McGinley and airs on ESPNews.
2021
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and top pound-for-pound women's boxer Claressa Shields signed a three-year contract with the Professional Fighters League to compete in the Women's Lightweight division and former UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis who joined the Professional Fighters League ahead of the 2021 regular season.
PFL's 2021 roster included 60 fighters competing across six weight classes. The late additions to the season were the welterweights Gleison Tibau, Alexey Kunchenko and Jason Ponet, featherweights Chris Wade and Anthony Dizy, women's lightweights Kaitlin Young and Taylor Guardado and light heavyweight Nick Roehrick.
In December 2021, PFL announced a multi-year partnership for its new PFL Challenger Series with streaming television provider fuboTV on its Fubo Sports Network. Set to debut in February 2022, the new event will see fighters competing for a chance to earn a PFL contract and will incorporate a celebrity judging panel, a fan vote, sports betting and gamification.
From Wikipedia’s article on Professional Fighters League, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4