The Professional Fighters League, a Saudi-backed organization that aims to rival Endeavor’s Ultimate Fighting Championship in the mixed martial arts space, has acquired Bellator MMA from Paramount.
The US-based PFL did not reveal the acquisition’s cost, but Donn Davis, the company’s founder, told the Financial Times that Bellator will become a more formidable rival to the UFC as a result of the agreement and that Paramount will keep a small minority share in Bellator.
“This completely alters the MMA scene overnight,” he declared. In essence, you combined two top-ranked businesses to get a co-leader. Currently, thirty percent of the fighters on the combined PFL Bellator roster are among the top 25 in the world, according to Fight Matrix. That matches what the UFC’s roster consists of.
PFL is a very new sport, having only been formed in 2017, but in August, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund invested $100 million in it. The investment was a component of a strategy to grow the PFL in the Middle East, which also included plans to open a regional league headquarters in Saudi Arabia the following year.
By making investments in sports ranging from football to golf and tennis, Saudi Arabia hopes to increase its prominence in the world of sports. The nation, which aims to challenge the United Arab Emirates, a neighbor, as the Middle East’s main hub for banking and logistics, has recently played host to a number of high-profile fights. Meanwhile, the UAE has held UFC championship events.
Tyson Fury, the heavyweight boxing champion, and Francis Ngannou, a mixed martial artist who has signed with the PFL, squared off in October in Saudi Arabia. Additional bouts are slated for next year.
Dana White, the president and chief executive of the UFC, mocked the league’s investment in the PFL, claiming it was “burning cash.”
The UFC is being sued by fighters over pay, yet it has been leading the charge in gaining mainstream recognition for mixed martial arts, with an estimated $1.1 billion in revenue in 2022.
Davis stated last month that his business was in “investment mode and growing mode” after raising over $500 million in its most recent funding round.
In spite of having some of the top competitors on its roster and a solid reputation in the mixed martial arts community, Davis claims that Bellator’s viewership is lower than that of the UFC.
When asked about his plans, he responded, “You revitalize the product, and we will rebuild the global audience.”
According to Davis, Bellator would keep running under its own name and follow its own regulations for fighting, which, in contrast to the PFL, permitted throws like elbow strikes. But, he added, it would share its fighter roster with the PFL.
