The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is growing rapidly, with an expanding global presence. Since debuting in 2018, the mixed martial arts promotion has launched regional PFL leagues in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and, most recently, Australia and New Zealand (PFL Pacific).
With this momentum, the PFL, the self-proclaimed fastest-growing sports league worldwide, has no plans to slow down, targeting Latin America and Asia next.
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The global rise of the series recently led to a leadership reshuffle, with Peter Murray, who served as CEO since PFL’s inception, transitioning to CEO of PFL International, leading the launch and growth of the promotion’s leagues worldwide.
Experienced media executive John Martin was hired to take over as CEO to lead the next phase of PFL’s growth, overseeing all aspects of the company’s strategy, management, operations, finances, and personnel.
Martin has strong experience building brands, with previous leadership roles at major media companies such as Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner.
With a senior leadership team comprising Martin, Murray, and founder Donn Davis, PFL is ready to take that next leap.
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By GlobalData“Given my experience and skills, which are building brands and growing revenues, I'm not the best person at the start,” Martin tells GlobalData Sport (Sportcal), explaining the new management structure.
“Donn has done that, and Pete has led the company to where it is today. My skills lend themselves to being in good standing with regard to what's happening in the future. We're also expanding internationally, and with a different approach to UFC. Pete has done a terrific job leading the company and agreed to continue the international leadership and expansion.
“We're in discussions in various countries in Asia and Latin America. The globe is our landscape, and there's a lot of work to be done there, and Pete has global experience as an executive, so we're working in partnership. I'm trying to get the company to execute everything that it does flawlessly and grow revenues while we continue to expand internationally.”
PFL Europe, the promotion’s first regional league, debuted in 2023, followed by PFL MENA in 2024 and PFL Africa this year. PFL Pacific will join the fray in 2026, giving the organisation four international leagues in four years.
With the global explosion of MMA, claimed to be the third-largest sport in the world, the PFL wants to develop a footprint in emerging territories.
But for Martin and the PFL hierarchy, the key is finding a balance with expansion.
“It's in the art of leadership, which is how fast is fast enough?” he says. “Because if you try to push it too fast, the thing breaks. At PFL, I'm a big believer in needing to amplify the brand with fans, fighters, and business partners. That means that when you promise to do things, you do them consistently and at a very high level.
“I'm very focused on the business that we have today, continuing to evolve and improve on our ability to execute daily, and not take our eye off the expansion. But you don't want to expand so fast that suddenly, you're doing a lot of things average.
“So that's part of what we're talking about and discussing every day. I'm here to hopefully be a great business partner for our commercial partners, sponsors, and broadcasters. But that's right on my radar screen.”
Media landscape
As a long-time MMA fan and former fighter in karate and jiu-jitsu, Martin was an early advocate of expanding the cable distribution of UFC during his time at Time Warner Cable, recognizing the potential of MMA.
On multiple occasions, he attempted to convince his former Time Warner bosses to acquire UFC rights but was unsuccessful for various reasons. In his words, UFC was “the single biggest opportunity to create value in all of global sport.”
In August, UFC inked a blockbuster seven-year, $7.7 billion agreement in the US with media giant Paramount.
“It's a terrific validation that MMA is now mainstream,” Martin says of that deal.
Having served as chairman and CEO of Turner from 2014 to 2018, managing a portfolio of cable networks, digital platforms, content properties, and sports assets, including TNT, TBS, CNN, and Turner Sports, Martin is perfectly placed to navigate the media landscape in MMA.
PFL is shown in the US by ESPN, which is relinquishing UFC rights. The network’s PFL deal has just one year remaining, leaving it in danger of potentially losing two MMA properties if a renewal isn’t reached.
With UFC now tied down for the next seven years, it presents an opportunity for the PFL, the second-biggest MMA promotion in the world, to be front and centre for any broadcaster seeking to enter the MMA business.
“The biggest prize at this moment in time is the United States,” Martin states. “Our partner is ESPN; they've spent most of their time focused on UFC in the past, but won’t be in business with UFC going forward.
“We have one more year with them, so we’re going to shift the format and focus and move away from the world tournament to one champion per weight class, one belt defendable, more of a traditional format to simplify the structure and showcase the elite fighters that PFL already has in its roster, and figure out who might want to be in the MMA category.
“If you're a media rights buyer and want to be in MMA, you don't have any ability to be with UFC anytime over the next seven years. PFL is a strong number two. Our proposition is: if you don't want to be closed out for the next seven years, come work with PFL and help us.”
The PFL offers a unique format in combat sports. It is the first major MMA organization in which individual athletes compete in a regular season, post-season, and championship – akin to major sports leagues – rather than on a year-round basis.
But with plans to introduce a new format and more major global events, the series is seeking a broadcast partner to help elevate the organisation and significantly promote its brand.
“What we’ll be looking for in a media partner is more money and consistent scheduling on a premier platform,” Martin outlines. “Just as importantly, you need to market, promote, and get behind the brand, and we're doing a good job. Our social engagement is outsized relative to our linear TV audiences.
“We want a partner who believes in us and wants to help build our business, and we want to help solve the problems that media partners are trying to solve.
“There's a lot of tailwinds; estimates suggest that there were up to maybe half a dozen potential bidders for UFC before they decided to ink their deal with Paramount. We're an attractive potential business partner where you can get behind a league, which is also unique in sport.”
He continues: “This is not a team; this is a global league. We own everything from the top of the funnel to the bottom. We own our IP and storytelling; we can package, repurpose, and redistribute, and that's part of my media sensibility. There's never been more innovative and exciting ways to get behind storytelling.
“We're a live production, events, and sports company, but over time, if we're successful, we can build that into being a fully-fledged media company. There are very few opportunities I see across the landscape where a company has a real fighting chance of being successful at scale and globally. So that's why I'm excited and why I'm here.”
ESPN currently provides live coverage of the PFL regular season, playoffs, and World Championship on its linear networks and ESPN+ streaming service. The ESPN+ PPV offering also distributes the PFL PPV Super Fight Division in the US, which launched in 2024.
UFC’s deal with Paramount spells the end for its pay-per-view model, with all premium events available to Paramount+ customers at no extra cost.
With the rise of streaming, and as consumer viewing habits continue to change, with many preferring a direct-to-consumer model that gives them more freedom, the linear vs streaming debate rumbles on in the sports world.
Live MMA content has featured on both platforms, and performed well – the PFL doesn’t see a reason to choose.
“It’s not either or; you must live in a world where you have both," Martin says. “Linear is going to continue to decline. On a like-for-like basis, in terms of linear ratings, you're looking at mid to high single digits annually in terms of just traditional linear ratings, but streaming is picking up, and there's no doubt that train left the station several years ago, and it’s not going to stop.
“We need to live in both worlds, and so we're making sure that the company is positioned where we can succeed and program, and ultimately the world is going to move more to streaming.”
Next phase of growth
The ascent of the PFL has attracted high-level investors in recent years, widening the company’s ownership group, helping the promotion reach new heights. Some of these names include David Blitzer, Ted Leonsis, and actor/entrepreneur Kevin Hart.
One of the most significant investments in the organization came in 2023 when SURJ Sports Investments, the sports-focused investment vehicle of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), acquired a minority stake worth around $100 million.
The investment helped to support the launch of PFL MENA and marked the PIF’s first major investment into MMA following previous deals in soccer and golf.
That came after the PFL raised $200 million from a group of private equity investors, including Ares Capital, Knighthead, Luxor Capital, Waverly Capital, and Elysian Park Ventures.
In July, the PFL added Emirati Sheikh Mohammed Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum to its global ownership group to strengthen its expertise.
With a strong structure in place, the PFL is ready to scale and enter a new phase. So, what will the next stage of growth look like?
“US media rights and taking advantage of all those trends that are moving in our direction,” Martin explains. “In the world of media revenue growth, sponsorship usually follows on the heels of media rights.
“We want a more productive and constructed media rights deal in the US, grow sponsorship, and become better at ticketing. Outside the US, we can easily fill up to 15,000 seats in an event. How do we do that in more places around the world? We want to grow revenues, amplify the brand, deepen engagement with our fans, tell stories in a deeper, more engaging way, and at the same time, engage interested investors and business partners around the world, but do it in a way where we can execute and serve them well.
“My goal is to try to create PFL and move it into a scenario where we could be considered as a real global juggernaut of a sports league. It's a big idea, but it's there. The category and the fans are there. It's just up to us to execute. As a company that is seven years old, we're still going through a few growing pains, but we're well on our way. We're at an inflection point.”
