Professional Fighters League

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Professional Fighters League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event PFL (2021 season)
Professional Fighters League Primary Logo.jpg
SportMixed martial arts
Founded2018; 3 years ago (2018)
Owner(s)MMAX Investors
CEOPeter Murray[1]
PresidentRay Sefo (President, Fighter Ops)
CountryUnited States
TV partner(s)ESPN
Official websitehttp://www.pflmma.com

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is an American mixed martial arts league founded in 2018, following the acquisition of the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) promotion in 2017.[2] 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.[3]

PFL debuted its inaugural season on June 7, 2018 at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. At the end, each champion of the six weight classes won a championship prize of $1 million each.[4]

History[]

Predecessor[]

The World Series of Fighting (WSOF) formed in 2012, having signed a broadcast deal with the NBC Sports Network. Soon after the promotion's event announcement, WSOF confirmed Bas Rutten and Michael Schiavello would be commentators for the debut event.[5] In 2013, WSOF started the WSOF Global Championship brand that featured events in Japan, China, Philippines, and other destinations.[6][citation needed] Over the course of its run, the WSOF held 35 events.[7]

In 2017, MMAX Investment Partners, a group of Reston, Virginia investors, acquired a controlling stake in the WSOF.[8]

Fight format and point system[]

PFL uses the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts regulated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.[citation needed] The League uses a unique ten-sided (decagon) cage for their events.[9]

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 the bout.

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. The women's lightweight division will have the top four make the playoffs the way it did in 2019, the PFL's most recent season. The four athletes making the playoffs will advance directly to the semifinals in each division. There will be no quarterfinals, nor a situation where a fighter must win twice in a single night.[10] The point system consists of outcome-based scoring and bonuses for an early win. Under the outcome-based scoring system, the winner of a fight receives three points and the loser receives zero points. If the fight ends in a draw, both fighters will receive one point. The bonus for winning a fight in the first, second, or third round is three points, two points, and one point, respectively. For example, if a fighter wins a fight in the first round, the fighter will receive six total points.[11]

  • Win in any round automatically: 3 points
  • Bonus points
    • Round 1: 3 points
    • Round 2: 2 points
    • Round 3: 1 point

Roster[]

See also: List of current PFL fighters

For the 2018 season, the PFL roster included 72 fighters in six weight classes.[12] The 2019 roster includes 68 fighters in six weight classes, including a new Women's Lightweight division.[13][14]

Champions[]

Main article: List of PFL champions

2018 world champions[]

Division Upper weight limit Champion Date
Heavyweight 265 lb (120 kg; 18.9 st) Brazil Philipe Lins December 31, 2018 (PFL 11)
Light Heavyweight 205 lb (93 kg; 14.6 st) United States Sean O'Connell December 31, 2018 (PFL 11)
Middleweight 185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st) United States Louis Taylor December 31, 2018 (PFL 11)
Welterweight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st) Russia Magomed Magomedkerimov December 31, 2018 (PFL 11)
Lightweight 155 lb (70 kg; 11.1 st) Brazil Natan Schulte December 31, 2018 (PFL 11)
Featherweight 145 lb (66 kg; 10.5 st) United States Lance Palmer December 31, 2018 (PFL 11)

2019 world champions[]

Division Upper weight limit Champion Date
Heavyweight 265 lb (120 kg; 18.9 st) Russia Ali Isayev December 31, 2019 (PFL 10)
Light Heavyweight 205 lb (93 kg; 14.6 st) Argentina Emiliano Sordi December 31, 2019 (PFL 10)
Welterweight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st) United States Ray Cooper III December 31, 2019 (PFL 10)
Lightweight 155 lb (70 kg; 11.1 st) Brazil Natan Schulte (2) December 31, 2019 (PFL 10)
Featherweight 145 lb (66 kg; 10.5 st) United States Lance Palmer (2) December 31, 2019 (PFL 10)
Women's Lightweight 155 lb (70 kg; 11.1 st) United States Kayla Harrison December 31, 2019 (PFL 10)

Events[]

Main article: List of PFL events

Scheduled events[]

# Event Date Venue Location
28 PFL 4 June 10, 2021 Ocean Casino Resort Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
29 PFL 5 June 17, 2021 Ocean Casino Resort Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
30 PFL 6 June 25, 2021 Ocean Casino Resort Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
31 PFL 7 August 13, 2021 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood Hollywood, Florida, U.S.
32 PFL 8 August 19, 2021 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood Hollywood, Florida, U.S.
33 PFL 9 August 27, 2021 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood Hollywood, Florida, U.S.

Event history[]

2018[]

Main article: PFL (2018 season)

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.[15]

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.[16] 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.[17]

2019[]

Main article: PFL (2019 season)

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.[18] As a measure to relieve the financial pressure of the athletes, the organization decided to hand out monthly stipends to the contracted fighters.[19] Reactions to the stipend were mixed, with fighter Lance Palmer 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/month.[20][21]

2021[]

Main article: PFL (2021 season)

PFL's 2021 roster included 60 fighters competing across six weight classes. The late additions to the season were the welterweights Gleison Tibau, Alexey Kunchenko and Jason Ponet, featherweights Chris Wade and Anthony Dizy, women’s lightweights Kaitlin Young and Taylor Guardado and light heavyweight Nick Roehrick.[22]

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 and Facebook.[23] 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 beginning June 7, 2018, through the end of August 2018. Events televised by NBCSN also streamed on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. All regular season events had encore telecasts on NBCSN later the same night. Outside the U.S., Facebook 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.[24]

Beginning in February 2019, the PFL's events are broadcast by ESPN in the United States and TSN in Canada.[25] PFL events and playoff matches air on ESPN+ and ESPN2, with the Championship Event on New Year's Eve airing exclusively on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.[26][27]

The PFL international distribution is handled by combat sports rights distributor Fighting Spirit.[28] PFL airs on in Hispanic America, Combate in Brazil, in the United Kingdom, MMA TV in Nordic countries, Match TV and Boets TV in Russia, JSBC in China, beIN Sports in the Middle East and Northern Africa, and ESPN in sub-Saharan Africa.

Broadcast team[]

PFL’s 2018 broadcast team for live events and pre- and post-event shows included Randy Couture, Bas Rutten, Yves Edwards, Caroline Pearce and Todd Harris. Todd Harris provided play-by-play while Randy Couture provided color commentary. Bas Rutten and Caroline Pearce conducted pre- and post-fight interviews and Yves Edwards offered video breakdowns and fight analysis.[29]

The 2019 broadcast team for live events and pre- and post-event shows includes 2018 PFL Light Heavyweight champion Sean O'Conell, Randy Couture, Caroline Pearce and former UFC Lightweight Yves Edwards, with former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia as in-cage announcer.[30][31]

References[]

  1. ^ "MMA Fighting: PFL signs distribution deal with NBC Sports, Facebook". mmafighting.com. January 29, 2018.
  2. ^ Mindenhall, Chuck. "PFL has come a long way in a short time – so far that WSOF feels like a distant memory". The Athletic. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  3. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (2018-03-29). "Professional Fighters League To Partner With MGM Television Group For New Programming". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  4. ^ Mazique, Brian. "How The PFL Plans To Change The Way Fans, Fighters And Sponsors See MMA". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  5. ^ "TNA contract nixes Kurt Angle commentator job at World Series of Figh…". archive.is. 2013-01-29. Archived from the original on 2013-01-29. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  6. ^ "BEST MMA FIGHTS | United States | WSOF Global". BEST MMA FIGHTS | United States | WSOF Global. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  7. ^ "WSOF becomes Professional Fighters League; Inaugural season set to kick off next year". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  8. ^ SEC Form D - MMAX Investment Partners, Inc
  9. ^ "PFL Rules and Regulations" (PDF). PFL MMA.
  10. ^ Raimondi, Marc (1 April 2021). "PFL makes rule changes ahead of 2021 season". ESPN.com. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  11. ^ "A look at how the PFL's points system works". Newsday. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  12. ^ "PFL roster revealed: Six of these 72 fighters will be millionaires by year's end". MMAjunkie. 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  13. ^ Rosenstein, Greg (7 May 2019). "Favorites and sleepers in every PFL division for Season 2". ESPN.com. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  14. ^ Rosenstein, Greg. "PFL unveils women's lightweight division roster". espnW. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  15. ^ Mazique, Brian. "Professional Fighters League's MMA Format, Roster, Schedule And Free-TV Model Revealed". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  16. ^ Mazique, Brian. "Professional Fighters League's MMA Format, Roster, Schedule And Free-TV Model Revealed". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  17. ^ "PFL roster, event schedule released for 2018 championship season". MMAmania.com. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  18. ^ Sarkar, Raj (2020-09-28). "EXCLUSIVE: PFL CEO Peter Murray Opens up About 2021 Season and More". EssentiallySports. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  19. ^ Farah Hannoun (May 13, 2020). "Ray Sefo talks difficulty in decision to cancel PFL's 2020 season". mmajunkie.com.
  20. ^ Martin, Damon (2020-07-28). "Two-time champ Lance Palmer believes relationship with PFL is beyond repair, asks for release". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  21. ^ Cruz, Guilherme (2020-04-26). "Two-time PFL champ Natan Schulte celebrates monthly stipend for fighters during coronavirus outbreak". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  22. ^ MMA Fighting Newswire. "PFL finalizes 2021 roster with additional signings including UFC vet Gleison Tibau, Invicta FC's Kaitlin Young". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  23. ^ "Professional Fighters League Reaches Exclusive Multi-Platform Distribution Agreements with NBC Sports Group and Facebook". Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  24. ^ "PFL announces 2018 events and broadcast deal with NBC Sports Group and Facebook". mmajunkie.com. January 29, 2018.
  25. ^ "PFL signs broadcast deal with ESPN for second season". mmajunkie.com. February 25, 2019.
  26. ^ Alexander K. Lee (February 25, 2019). "PFL signs multi-year deal with ESPN". mmafighting.com.
  27. ^ Levy, Joe. "'With OTT there is no better time to be doing this': Why the PFL is betting big on DTC". www.sportspromedia.com. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  28. ^ PFL (March 4, 2019). "Professional Fighters League teams with Fighting Spirit to expand global reach". pflmma.com.
  29. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (2018-05-01). "Professional Fighters League Sets Broadcast Team For Inaugural Season". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  30. ^ Doyle, Dave (29 April 2019). "Former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia signs with PFL". MMA Junkie. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  31. ^ Brito, Santa (4 June 2019). "Professional Fighters League Returns For PFL 3 Thursday Night MMA Action Across ESPN Platforms". ESPN Press Room U.S. Retrieved 7 June 2019.

External links[]

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