The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is an American

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

league founded by

venture capitalist Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...

Donn Davis Donn Davis is an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He is founder, chairman and co-owner of the Professional Fighters League, co-owner of e-sports team Team Liquid and founding partner of the investment firm Revolution LLC. Career ...

in 2017 and launched in 2018, following the acquisition and restructuring of the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) promotion in 2017 by MMAX Investment Partners. It is the first major MMA organization in which individual athletes compete in a regular season, post-season and championship, rather than on a year-round basis. The PFL currently puts on fights across six weight-divisions: featherweight, women's lightweight, lightweight, welterweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. The PFL's matches are held inside a 10-sided mixed martial arts cage known as the SmartCage, and adhere to the

unified rules of mixed martial arts Most rule sets for mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions have evolved since the early days of Vale Tudo. As a result of health, legal, and moral concerns, many different rulesets were created, which give different countries and promotions very dif ...

, with the exception of the prohibition of

elbow strikes An elbow strike (commonly referred to as simply an elbow) is a strike (attack), strike with the point of the elbow, the part of the forearm nearest to the elbow, or the part of the upper arm nearest to the elbow. Elbows can be thrown sideways sim ...

. The PFL's inaugural event took place on June 7, 2018 at the

Hulu Theater The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden is a theater located in New York City's Madison Square Garden. It seats between 2,000 and 5,600, and is used for concerts, shows, sports, meetings, and other events. It is located beneath the main Madison ...

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York. At the end, each champion of the six weight classes won a championship prize of $1 million each.

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 NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming prim ...

. Soon after WSOF's first event was announced, it would be confirmed that

Bas Rutten Sebastiaan "Bas" Rutten (; born 24 February 1965) is a Dutch-American actor, former mixed martial artist, kickboxer and professional wrestler. He was a UFC Heavyweight Champion, a three-time King of Pancrase world champion, and finished his car ...

and

Michael Schiavello Michael Schiavello (born 10 April 1975) is an Australian sports commentator and journalist. He has commentated for AXS TV, K-1, Dream, Maximum Fighting Championship, King of the Cage, ONE Championship and '' The Contender Asia''. He has also w ...

would serve as 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 Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and was best known for featuring fighters such as

Justin Gaethje Justin Ray Gaethje (; born November 14, 1988) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former Interim UFC Lightweight Champion. As o ...

Marlon Moraes Marlon Luiz Moraes (born April 26, 1988) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Featherweight division of the Professional Fighters League (PFL). He previously competed in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Champi ...

and

Lance Palmer Lance Palmer (born February 7, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former collegiate wrestler. He currently competes in the featherweight division of Professional Fighters League, where he is the 2019's tournament champi ...

. In 2017, MMAX Investment Partners, a group of

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxim ...

investors, which included

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

Russ Ramsey W. Russell "Russ" Ramsey is an American financier and philanthropist, and the founder, chairman and CEO of asset management firm Ramsey Asset Management. He cofounded the Washington, D.C., investment firm Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group in 1989, ...

, Mark Leschly,

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...

Ted Leonsis,

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

' owner

Mark Lerner Mark Lerner (b. 1953/1954) is the managing principal owner at Lerner Enterprises and principal owner of Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Glenn Youngkin Glenn Allen Youngkin (born December 9, 1966) is an American businessman and politician, currently serving as the 74th governor of Virginia since January 15, 2022. A member of the Republican Party, Youngkin defeated former Democratic governor T ...

, 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 president and co-founder

Ray Sefo Ray Sefo (born 15 February 1971) is a New Zealand fight promoter and retired kickboxer, boxer, and mixed martial artist of Samoan descent. He was the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 Runner Up, is a six-time Muay Thai World Champion, and was an eig ...

joined PFL as president of fight operations. Sefo was previously a MMA fighter and a six-time

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. In January 2018, former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

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.

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 Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

. 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 Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

division. Baseball player

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...

was involved the raise and, with Daniel Leff, joined PFL's board of directors. That same month, Murray told

daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

the

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

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 Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

signed a deal with PFL to broadcast the 2022 playoffs in the UK, as PFL planned to host playoffs in the

Cardiff International Arena Cardiff International Arena (formerly known as Cardiff International Arena & Convention Centre and later, for sponsorship reasons, Motorpoint Arena Cardiff) is an indoor exhibition centre and events arena located in Cardiff, Wales, and was ope ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and the

Copper Box Arena The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted mo ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in August 2022, following a first event in New York City. In June 2022, PFL fighter and two-time lightweight champion

Kayla Harrison Kayla Jean Harrison (born July 2, 1990) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former Olympic and world champion judoka, currently signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL). Harrison competed in the weight category in jud ...

was nominated for an

ESPY award An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

. In July 2022, PFL announced plans for a

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

league, starting in 2023. The regional league will be called PFL Europe.

2020–2021

Following a partnership with

blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...

reward app Socios.com in October 2020, PFL launched a fan

non-fungible token A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the b ...

(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 Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. (born May 15, 1975) is an American former professional American football, football player who played as a Linebacker#Middle linebacker, middle linebacker with the Baltimore Ravens for his entire 17-year career in th ...

joined the PFL athlete

advisory board An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to th ...

. In April 2021, former NFL

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

Marshawn Lynch Marshawn Terrell Lynch (born April 22, 1986) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. Nicknamed "Beast Mode", he spent the majority of his career with the Seattle Seahawks. Lync ...

and

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 200 ...

both became PFL investors. Lynch joined the ownership group, while Khalifa serves as an advisor. That same month,

DraftKings DraftKings is an American daily fantasy sports contest and sports betting company. The company allows users to enter daily and weekly fantasy sports–related contests and win money based on individual player performances in five major American ...

was named the first official

sportsbook In the United States, a sportsbook or a race and sports book (sometimes abbreviated as book) is a place where a gambler can wager on various sports competitions, including golf, football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, soccer, horse racing, ...

and daily

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became 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. In August 2021, PFL announced a long-term partnership with Legends Hospitality, with the company purchasing a minority ownership stake.

Fight format and point system

The PFL's matches are held inside a 10-sided mixed-martial arts cage known as the SmartCage, and adhere to the

, with the exception of the prohibition of elbow strikes. A fighter who is overweight on the scale at weigh-ins will be deducted one point in the standings in the PFL's season structure and will be ineligible to win any points from that bout. The PFL follows a point-based scoring system, consisting of outcome-based elimination, with a proprietary scoring and bonuses for an early win. Under the outcome-based scoring system, fighters compete twice during the regular season. Four fighters with the most points in their respective divisions advance to the playoffs. Fights are three-round bouts, and the winners are awarded three points. Bonus points are awarded for knockouts and submission wins. If a fighter finishes a bout in the first round, they are awarded three bonus points. Second and third-round finishes are awarded two and one points, respectively. If a fighter wins in the first round, they are awarded six total points. A second-round finish awards them five total points, and a third-round finish awards them four total points. The loser of the fight is not awarded any points. If a fight ends in a draw, both fighters are awarded a single point. For example, if a fighter wins a fight in the first round, the fighter will receive six total points. A win by decision doesn't earn bonus points. *Win in any round automatically: 3 points * Bonus points for a finish (KO or submission) ** Round 1: 3 points ** Round 2: 2 points ** Round 3: 1 point In the playoffs, the player with the most points is ranked number one and will face number four. The number two and three ranked players will face each other. The

semi-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

are three-round bouts. The winners of these bouts will face each other in a five-round championship fight for a $1 million prize. In 2021, PFL changed the playoff structure, the top four fighters per division after the regular season will make the playoffs, a number down from the eight who made the playoffs in men's divisions in previous seasons. In the women's lightweight division, the top four fighters make the playoffs, similar to the 2019 rules. The four fighters who make the playoffs advance directly to the semifinals in each division. There are no quarterfinals, nor a situation where a fighter must win twice in a single night.

PFL Challenger Series

PFL Challenger Series PFL Challenger Series is an American mixed martial arts promotion. Young and up-and-coming male and female MMA prospects will compete for a slot in the PFL tournament season and a chance at $1 million. Each week, the PFL Challenger Series will con ...

is an American

series. Young and up-and-coming male and female MMA fighters will compete for a slot in the PFL tournament season and a chance at $1 million. Each week, the PFL Challenger Series will consist of a celebrity guest panel featuring personalities in film, athletics and sports. In the 2021 debut airing of the PFL Challenger Series, the celebrity guest panel included NFL stars

and

Todd Gurley Todd Jerome Gurley II (born August 3, 1994) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Rams. He played college football at Georgia, where he recei ...

and entertainers

Jeremy Piven Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series ''Entourage'', for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the British ...

and

. The inaugural PFL Challenger Series streamed on

FuboTV FuboTV Inc. (stylized as fuboTV) is an American streaming television service serving customers in the United States, Canada, and Spain that focuses primarily on channels that distribute live sports. Depending on country, channels offered by Fubo ...

and Fubo Sports Network from February 2022 to April 2022.

PFL Europe

Starting in 2023 PFL Europe will feature the top emerging European MMA fighters, and will be broadcast during prime local hours with all events staged in Europe.

Roster

For each season, the PFL roster begins with 72 fighters in six

weight classes Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports, especially combat sports (such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and wrestling). Altern ...

: five men’s weight classes and one women’s weight class. PFL additionally signs fighters to development contracts from the PFL Challenger Series. These fighters occasionally appear as alternates in the league season or as showcase fights opening the league events. For the 2018 season, the PFL roster included 72 fighters in six weight classes. The 2019 roster included 68 fighters in six weight classes, including a new Women's Lightweight division.

Champions

2018 World Champions

2019 World Champions

2021 World Champions

2022 World Champions

Fighter signing

In November 2020, two-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

ist and #2 pound-for-pound women's boxer

Claressa Shields Claressa Maria Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021 ...

signed a three-year contract with the Professional Fighters League to compete in the women's lightweight division. Shields plans to compete in both

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

and MMA. In December 2020, former

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

lightweight champion

Anthony Pettis Anthony Paul Pettis (born January 27, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to the Professional Fighters League. Pettis formerly fought in the Welterweight, Lightweight, and Featherweight divisions of the ...

joined the Professional Fighters League ahead of the 2021 regular season, departing from the UFC promotion where he fought for nearly a decade.

Events

Scheduled events

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 Jumabieke Tuerxun ( kk, Жұмабек Тұрсын) is a Kazakh-Chinese mixed martial arts fighter and trainer. He currently fights as a Bantamweight. Early life Jumabieke is an ethnic Kazakh from the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang. ...

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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. As a measure to relieve the financial pressure of the athletes, the organization decided to hand out monthly

stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...

s to the contracted fighters. Reactions to the stipend were mixed, with fighter

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 The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary warfare, exped ...

, that detailed the journey fighters go on through training, regular season, playoffs and championships. The series is narrated by actor

John C. McGinley John Christopher McGinley (born August 3, 1959) is an American actor. His best known roles include Perry Cox in '' Scrubs'', Bob Slydell in ''Office Space'', Captain Hendrix in '' The Rock'', Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's ''Platoon,'' ...

and airs on

ESPNews ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

2021

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and top pound-for-pound women's boxer

signed a three-year contract with the Professional Fighters League to compete in the Women's Lightweight division and former UFC lightweight champ

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 Janigleison Herculano Alves, better known as Gleison Tibau (; born July 10, 1983) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently competing in the Lightweight division of Professional Fighters League. A professional since 1999, he has competed for ...

, Alexey Kunchenko and Jason Ponet, featherweights Chris Wade and Anthony Dizy, women's lightweights

Kaitlin Young Kaitlin Young (born September 15, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the lightweight division. A professional mixed martial artist since 2007, Young has also competed for EliteXC, Invicta Fighting Championships, a ...

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 Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

provider

fuboTV FuboTV Inc. (stylized as fuboTV) is an American streaming television service serving customers in the United States, Canada, and Spain that focuses primarily on channels that distribute live sports. Depending on country, channels offered by Fubo ...

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.

2022

Broadcast

On January 29, 2018, the League announced it had reached a multi-platform distribution deal for the inaugural 2018 season with

NBC Sports Group NBC Sports Group is a division of NBCUniversal that is responsible for NBC Sports' media properties, encompassing the NBC television network's sports division as well as day-to-day operation of the company's sports-oriented cable networks and oth ...

and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. Within the United States, NBC Sports Group established a live Thursday night PFL franchise, presenting seven regular-season live events in prime time exclusively on

NBCSN NBCSN was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated t ...

beginning June 7, 2018, through the end of August 2018. Events televised by NBCSN also streamed on

NBCSports.com NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its ...

and the

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

app. All regular season events had encore telecasts on NBCSN later the same night. Outside the U.S.,

streamed up to six hours of live coverage for each event. Facebook also opened each event with a live 30-minute pre-fight show and closed each with a live 30-minute post-fight show. In the U.S., fans were able to watch the first three hours of undercard coverage of each event on Facebook prior to NBCSN's presentation of the main bouts. Beginning in February 2019, the PFL's events are broadcast by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

in the United States and TSN in Canada. PFL events and playoff matches air on

ESPN+ ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

, with the Championship Event on New Year's Eve airing exclusively on ESPN2 and

ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ''ESPN Sports'') is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (whi ...

. The PFL international distribution is handled by combat sports rights distributor Fighting Spirit. PFL airs on

Claro Sports Claro or CLARO may refer to: Companies * Claro (company) or Claro Americanas, a mobile and fixed voice and data communications company **Claro Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay **Claro Brasil **Claro Colombia ** Claro El Salvador ** Claro Guatemala ...

in Hispanic America, Combate in Brazil,

MMA TV Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

in the United Kingdom
MMA TV
in Nordic countries,

Match TV Match TV (russian: Матч ТВ) is a Russian federal sports channel owned by Gazprom Media. The channel began broadcasting on November 1, 2015 and was created in accordance with the order of Russian president Vladimir Putin, with the assista ...

and Boets TV in Russia, JSBC in China,

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef O ...

in the Middle East and Northern Africa, and

in sub-Saharan Africa. In August 2020, the PFL launched an over the top (OTT) platform via its mobile app. In October 2021, the PFL signed a distribution deal with sports media company Wave.tv. As of 2021, the PFL is broadcast in 160 countries, through media partners like

in the United States,

Globo Globo (meaning ''globe'' in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian) may refer to: *Grupo Globo, a Brazilian conglomerate primarily in mass media **TV Globo, a television network ***GloboNews, a television 24-hour news channel ***Globo (Portuguese TV cha ...

in Brazil,

Bild ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...

in Germany, RMC Sports in France,

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

in India, and Telesport in Russia. In January 2022, it was announced that PFL and ESPN struck a multi-year contract extension for broadcasting rights in the United States. In October 2022, the PFL is broadcast by Fast Sports HD in Pakistan

Broadcast team

PFL's 2018 broadcast team for live events and pre- and post-event shows included

Randy Couture Randall Duane Couture (; born June 22, 1963) is an American actor, former United States Army, U.S. Army sergeant, former mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and former Collegiate wrestling, collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman ...

Yves Edwards Yves Ed'duvill Edwards (born September 30, 1976) is a Bahamian retired mixed martial artist, who is best known for competing in the UFC's Lightweight division, fighting 21 times in the promotion. A professional competitor since 1997, he also compe ...

, Caroline Pearce and

Todd Harris Todd Harris (born June 4, 1970) is an American sports announcer and reporter for NBC Sports and NBCSN, with current duties focused in Olympic and extreme sports. A graduate of Brigham Young University with a bachelor's degree in communications ...

. Harris provided play-by-play while Couture provided color commentary. Rutten and Pearce conducted pre- and post-fight interviews and Edwards offered video breakdowns and fight analysis. The 2019 broadcast team for live events and pre- and post-event shows included 2018 PFL light heavyweight champion Sean O'Conell, Randy Couture, Caroline Pearce and former

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

Yves Edwards, with former

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

ring announcer

Lilian Garcia Lilián Annette Garcia (born August 19, 1966) is a Spanish-American ring announcer, singer and podcaster best known for her time with WWE. She is currently announcing for the Professional Fighters League (PFL).Doyle, Dave"Former WWE ring announce ...

as in-cage announcer. The 2021 broadcast team included Randy Couture,

Kenny Florian Kenneth Alan Florian (born May 26, 1976) is an American retired mixed martial artist and commentator who formerly competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He formerly served as an analyst for UFC on Fox from 2011–2018, and he also ...

Sean O'Connell Sean O'Connell was a Gaelic football manager and player who featured for the Derry county team in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and was on the Derry side that finished runners-up to Dublin in the 1958 All-Ireland Championship – winning a ...

, Lillian Garcia and

Chael Sonnen Chael Patrick Sonnen (; born April 3, 1977) is an American submission grappling promoter, mixed martial arts (MMA) analyst, and retired mixed martial artist. Beginning his MMA career in 1997, Sonnen competed for the Ultimate Fighting Champion ...

. The 2022 broadcast team includes Couture, Florian, O'Connell and Garcia.

References

External links

*
PFL event results at Tapology

WSOF event results at Sherdog
{{MMA organizations Mixed martial arts organizations 2012 establishments in Washington, D.C. Sports leagues established in 2012