With the new Professional Fighters League (PFL) knockout format starting tonight, its Founder and Chairman Donn Davis spoke to Insider Sport in an exclusive interview.
The PFL will introduce a new knockout tournament format across its weight divisions, starting with quarter-final fights tonight at PFL 1, which includes the welterweight clash between Jason Jackson and Andrey Koreshkov.
The single elimination format was an answer from fans according to Davis to make the competitions easier to follow and make the season shorter, with the tournament finals happening in August.
Tonight’s PFL 1 event, as well as PFL 2, PFL 3, and PFL 4, will all be held at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, marking the company’s first venture in the city.
With Davis revealing that the PFL has 30 shows in this year – doubled from 15 events in 2024 – across four regions; Europe, Africa, Middle East and Oceania, he emphasised the decision to make the first four events in Orlando was to be able to “execute the TV global product with excellence and allow us to handle the fighter logistics much, much easier”.
Key to the PFL’s globalisation strategy was the investment into the company by the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) sports investment arm, SURJ Sports Investment.
The PFL launched its first shows in the Middle East last year under the PFL: MENA banner, and Davis spoke on the growing influence of Saudi sports investment in great detail.
He cited PFL’s desire to become a global brand and leader within MMA as the reason why the company has been able to attract investors from Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi – a sign of the sport’s emergence as one of the fastest growing sports globally.
“If people want to make money in sports, the best global growth sport is MMA.”
On the subject of the current climate of sports investment, Davis threw on his own investment cap and revealed why 95% of investment in sports are primarily happening in what he described as the ‘Big Five’ sports as there is still a traditional need for a “I want global, I want growth” mentality.
But he highlighted that investment patterns will change from a traditional aspect to placing more of an emphasis on emerging sports, like MMA. This is due to the opportunities from international investors who recognise their value, as opposed to monopolised sports leagues like the NFL and the NBA.
With more and more cross-over events, or as Davis labeled them ‘cultural events’, he believes that while there is a lot of money and fan interest in an event like Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, they will continue with “great ones, and fewer ones”, as more and worse events will ultimately lead to them becoming a sideshow.
“Paul vs. Tyson was a cultural sports event, it’s not sports at the highest level.”
Davis also gave his take on the current state-of-play when it comes to the highly lucrative sports broadcast rights market.
He shared that networks and streaming services are now looking for more global packages to gain a worldwide audience share due to the access consumers now have to online content.
Davis highlighted that networks who are now paying more than ever for rights fees do not own the intellectual property (IP) of the sports they obtain rights to, and why a movement towards emerging sports will help breed long-lasting value with audiences as the demographics for sports like MMA are much younger than their traditional counterparts.
Davis also spoke about his interest in MMA and founding the PFL after the UFC’s $4bn acquisition from Endeavour in 2016, the massive potential of soccer in the US, and much more.
