The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial arts as it gears up for a major October 19 pay-per-view event from Saudi Arabia.
The event, featuring former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou against PFL heavyweight titleholder Renan Ferreira, is one of the biggest events for the six-year-old franchise, which pits MMA fighters in a league elimination format — including a regular-season and post-season — to determine its champion, according to PFL founder Donn Davis.
With fighters from around the world participating in the league, and with distribution deals with ESPN domestically and DAZN globally, Davis said the PFL is growing and within punching range of its nearest and larger competitor, the UFC.
Davis spoke to Multichannel News senior content producer, programming R. Thomas Umstead about the upcoming PPV event and the PFL’s television future. An edited version of the interview follows.
MCN: Have fans fully adapted to a league-based MMA format compared to the traditional single-fight matchups?
Donn Davis: Our metrics show that in our sixth year, we’re generating 40% of UFC viewership despite their brand being much bigger. It shows that PFL has grown very, very quickly among viewers. We also know that half of our fans are new to MMA — they watch soccer, basketball and American football — and they are used to the league format. Every fight matters in the PFL because every fight is an elimination fight, and our viewers are used to that kind of excitement in their sport.
MCN: How has your distribution deal with ESPN broadened the franchise’s reach beyond traditional MMA fans?
DD: We’re on ESPN Friday nights in the United States, so 90% percent of our fights are on linear and streaming free distribution, whereas half of the big fights from the UFC are on pay-per-view, so you have to pay more for them. For fans, we want to be easy to see.
MCN: The PFL also counts pay-per-view as a distribution platform. Is PPV still a viable option for companies like PFL to try to reach viewers and generate revenue?
DD: PFL has two pay-per-view events a year — we call them super-fights. Fights like our October event featuring the return of Francis Ngannou against the PFL champion [Ferreira], the No. 5-ranked heavyweight in the ESPN rankings. That card also has the greatest woman of all time in MMA, Cris Cyborg. These events are a testament to the fighters who want to be here and the innovation and the different approach to the market that we’re taking for our fans.
MCN: From your perspective, how do you see the television sports marketplace shaping over the next year, and how does the PFL fit into it?
DD: Most media companies, whether it’s linear, streaming or emerging technologies like mobile, want two things: global reach and growth. MMA is the fastest-growing sport, and, along with soccer, the most global. That’s what distributors are looking for, so I believe the UFC will do extremely well in their media rights negotiations in 2025, and I think the PFL will do extremely well in our media rights renewal in 2026. We have the best distribution that we can have today, but would we like to get paid more money for that? We’re currently over-delivering to those partners, and we want to stick with our partners after 2026 and get paid a little bit more.
