The Professional Fighters League has acquired rival MMA company Bellator from Paramount Global in its boldest attempt yet to influence industry leader UFC.
PFL did not disclose financial terms in Monday’s announcement.
“With this, PFL is now a global powerhouse and poised to become a co-leader.” MMA, PFL president Don Davis told The Associated Press. “For the first five years of the company, our mission was to be the number two company in MMA, and we achieved that. We have now set a new goal. How can we become co-leaders? Is not it?”
The deal was partially supported by Saudi Arabia’s recent acquisition of PFL. The purchase price was relatively small, $100 million according to the Financial Times, but even in a minority role, Saudi-backed SRJ Sports Investment Co. Ltd. will be involved in securing mixed martial arts events to be held in the country. guaranteed.
“Their vision is the same as ours to be co-leaders of MMA.” Davis said. “Their economic and financial support will help us accomplish this. The Bellator roster of fighters is great. But we need to reinvigorate Bellator’s business and our We can do that if we have the capital.”
While the PFL has a unique MMA competition format that includes regular season, postseason, and championship events, the Bellator brand will continue in 2024 with a series of one-off cards. PFL is “Bellator International Champions Series” next year.
The Champions Series was expected to consist of eight match events.
PFL absorbed Bellator’s roster, including big-name fighters like Chris. “cyborg” Justino, Sergio Pettis, Patricio “Pitbull” In addition to Freire, there were several fighters from Hawaii, including Maui’s Sumiko Inaba and former champion Ilima-Rae McFarlane of Oahu.
Davis said the company first approached Paramount about a deal in January. Bellator is now one of his five live fight franchises in the Professional Fighters League (PFL League Season, PFL PPV Superfight, PFL Challenger Series, PFL International League, and Bellator).
PFL also planned to run a PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions card in 2024 featuring champions from all seven weight divisions.
PFL will conclude its season on Nov. 24 at Anthem in Washington, D.C., with the highlight card being the return of two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison.
Bellator ran its final card Friday night on Showtime, a Paramount affiliate. There are no immediate shows scheduled until next year. Davis also did not reveal the fate of Bellator’s media rights.
Paramount owns a minority stake in PFL. It is unclear at this time whether Bellator President Scott Coker will continue to be involved with the company.
“We respect Scott and respect his years of leadership in MMA.” Davis said. “Scott and the entire Bellator team will have an opportunity to participate. We’ll make an announcement about that in the weeks following the championship.”
Davis said there are no plans to retire the Bellator brand.
“They are all part of PFL now.” Davis said. “There are no Bellator fighters or PFL fighters. They are all PFL fighters now, and they will fight in all of our products.”
PFL, whose cards are streamed on the ESPN platform, includes former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and YouTube influencer and celebrity fighter Jake Paul on its roster.
Davis said that two PFL pay-per-view events are planned for 2024, with Ngannou and Paul each scheduled to headline one of those cards.