PFL Set to Surge Past $100M in Revenue: “PFL has secured the No. 2 position, and it’s not even close.”
The PFL is expected to make over $100 million in revenue this year, a significant increase largely due to a 75% rise in sponsorship money. In a recent interview, PFL’s founder, Donn Davis, emphasized that this growth comes as they begin competing more directly with the UFC.
PFL and Growth
PFL has backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is valued at around $1 billion. The organization is working to capture more market share from the UFC by signing high-profile fighters like Ngannou and Jake Paul, acquiring Bellator, and creating events across different countries. This year, PFL’s revenue is more than double what it earned last year, with Davis claiming they have secured the second spot in the MMA market behind UFC.
Speaking to Adam Stern, Davis outlined the three major goals of the PFL:
“If you rewind two years ago, there were three companies vying for the No. 2 position: ONE Championship, PFL and Bellator. And everyone in the market now says that game is over — PFL has secured the No. 2 position, and it’s not even close. Now it’s a duopoly and there’s only two premium providers in the world.
“Our No. 2 goal was to double our number of Top 25 ranked fighters in the world. The PFL now has 85. UFC has 190, but they put on twice as many events as us, so if you equalize it, we have the same number of top fighters in the world. And our No. 3 goal is we want to have a successful second signature fight product.
“There’s the PFL global season and everyone knows that but we wanted to hold more events and to continue to do that, we needed a new format and fighters to stock it, and that’s where the Bellator Champions Series comes in. So we’re making good progress but there’s still work to be done.”
Additionally, PFL has recently started building a fan base in the Middle East and launched its PFL Europe division. Their Saudi investors are measuring the league’s success based on three criteria: becoming a co-leader in MMA, achieving strong business performance, and developing its presence in the Middle East and North Africa. Overall, the PFL is growing rapidly and aims to expand its global presence while directly competing with the UFC.
While the UFC US television distribution deal is up for discussion in 2025, the PFL TV rights are up for grabs upcoming in 2026. They’ve worked closely with ESPN domestically and DAZN internationally.
The league is preparing for a major event in Riyadh this month featuring former UFC champion Francis Ngannou. The lineal MMA world titleholder Ngannou will take on the knockout machine Renan Ferreira on October 19.
