Global media giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Fight Network, the international fight sports channel, have agreed a deal with mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion Professional Fighters League (PFL) for rights to the Bellator Champions Series in the US and Canada, respectively.
Under the deal with WBD in the US, the series will stream exclusively on the Max platform and be available to users on all plans.
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𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗥𝗔 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗠𝗔 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗗
🏆First event of the @BellatorMMA Champions Series
2️⃣Bellator 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙇𝘿 𝙏𝙄𝙏𝙇𝙀 𝘽𝙊𝙐𝙏𝙎All the action at #BellatorBelfast goes down on Friday March 22nd at 12PM ET streaming exclusively on @SportsonMax in the US pic.twitter.com/VD6E4wonwO
— PFL (@PFLMMA) March 20, 2024
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By GlobalData
The Bellator Champions Series features eight events, with the first to take place on Friday (March 22) in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Additionally, WBD’s TNT Sports will televise a slate of Bellator content throughout the year on the ‘TNT Sports on truTV’ programming block.
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As well as the eight global events, Max subscribers will have access to two new all-access docuseries – Fight Camp Confidential and Fight Week – both debuting tomorrow ahead of the first event.
Further content available to stream on Max will include a selection from Bellator’s full library featuring over 300 events with 3,000 fights, pre-fight, post-fight, and original programming.
In Canada, meanwhile, Fight Network will also exclusively show all eight live events from the Bellator Champions Series.
As part of the agreement, Fight Network’s Canadian and international audience will have access to Bellator’s archives, featuring almost two decades of classic bouts.
The deal also includes new and classic PFL cut-down specials for all events from 2023, 2024, and 2025, as well as all shoulder programming for Bellator and PFL in 2024 and 2025.
Two Canadians will be competing in the marquee main card bouts this Friday, with Jeremy Kennedy challenging for a world title and Aaron Jeffery fighting for middleweight number one contender status.
Peter Murray, PFL chief executive, said: “Following the historic acquisition of Bellator, we’re proud to partner with Warner Bros. Discovery in the US and Fight Network in Canada when the global franchise launches this Friday.
“There’s an incredible demand for premium, year-round MMA content from major media platforms and this is the latest milestone in PFL’s ambition to bring the sport’s best to audiences around the world.”
PFL acquired Bellator, its former rival MMA promotion, late last year.
Earlier this month, the promotion agreed a media rights deal with Sub-Saharan African pay-TV broadcaster SuperSport covering both PFL and Bellator action.
