What PFL purchase of Bellator means for MMA fighters and fans،
The PFL announced the long-rumored acquisition of Bellator MMA on Monday, with PFL President Donn Davis writing on social media platform X that the purchase creates a “new global MMA powerhouse.”
What does this deal mean for Bellator, which since its creation in 2008 has become the second largest MMA promotion, behind the UFC? The PFL has challenged this number 2 position in recent years, and with this massive transaction, there is now a clear alternative to the leader UFC.
Davis’ announcement noted that Bellator would not cease to exist, but would be relaunched in a “reimagined” form: a Bellator International Champions Series. What will it look like? How will promotions work side by side under common ownership? Will Bellator fighters compete in the PFL and vice versa?
Brett Okamoto and Marc Raimondi address the questions raised by the Bellator purchase, laying out the facts they know and also speculating on what could or should happen with the future of Bellator and the PFL.
What will Bellator look like now?
Okamoto: Bellator will be a bit of a shell, if we’re honest. The PFL will poach the best elements, as it obviously should. Any athlete with intrigue or promotional value is likely going to step into the PFL cage. This is basically the same thing that happened when the UFC purchased Strikeforce over a decade ago.
It appears that the PFL will rely on an international roster, with the formation of a Bellator International Champions Series. It’s a place where the PFL can satisfy a variety of contracts and keep international talent busy, and if someone shows up with the fans, all the better. The series can still be used as a promotional tool as a whole. But in reality, it’s something of a hybrid international/development league. The best and most recognizable Bellator fighters won’t fight here. And the PFL announcement didn’t even specify where Bellator fights would be televised, with Showtime pulling out of combat sports.
What are the most attractive battles that can now be fought?
Okamoto: Cris Cyborg vs. Kayla Harrison is the most appealing. There is a story to be pushed there. Since Harrison moved to MMA after winning two Olympic gold medals in judo, this poses a potential matchup. Yes, Harrison lost to Larissa Pacheco in the 2022 PFL featherweight final, and if Pacheco wins the 2023 featherweight final this Friday, she deserves to fight Cyborg, the Bellator featherweight champion, when the PFL hosts the champion vs. champion event that Davis has promised for 2024. But Cyborg vs. Kayla is the bigger fight, and I would expect the PFL to go ahead with that one.
Davis said this when the PFL president spoke with ESPN on Monday. He said Cyborg vs. Harrison would “100% happen.” Nothing is ever 100% in MMA, but this is the most marketable fight the PFL can make with this merger and the company is doing its best to make it happen.
Beyond that, some of the more intriguing matchups include Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader vs. newly acquired PFL Francis Ngannou, Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov vs. the winner of Friday’s PFL final between Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Clay Collard, and Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim. Nemkov vs. 2022 PFL champion Rob Wilkinson. And stepping away from the champions for a moment, Bellator names such as AJ McKee and Aaron Pico will be very interesting to watch against the PFL featherweights and lightweights.
How does the consolidation of PFL and Bellator affect the balance of power in MMA?
Raimondi: This acquisition gives the PFL a large and comprehensive roster of extremely talented fighters across all weight classes. There are endless great fights the brand can now make, involving Cyborg, McKee, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Johnny Eblen, Vadim Nemkov and many more. The quality of talent the PFL now has represents the greatest collection of fighters a non-UFC promotion has ever had – maybe ever. At least since the heyday of Pride. It will have more depth than Strikeforce.
There is also the Saudi Arabia element. When news broke in August that deep-pocketed Saudi Arabia had acquired a minority stake in PFL, the stock prices of Endeavor and WWE both plummeted. (This was before the UFC and WWE officially merged in TKO.) This demonstrated what the market thought of Saudi Arabia’s influence on a UFC contender. So, fans may not see the combination of PFL and Bellator catching up with the UFC, but Saudi Arabia’s involvement with this level of talent will surely attract market attention.
What challenge does the PFL face with this influx of talent?
Raimondi: The biggest question now is whether the PFL can identify the biggest potential stars on this roster and turn them into legitimate box office brands. Despite having an abundance of talented athletes at its disposal, the PFL still doesn’t have a big draw or someone who sells a ton of tickets. Bellator’s ratings haven’t exactly brought the house down on Showtime, and the PFL isn’t the hottest live ticket in town either. Ngannou should be able to move the needle, but he could end up boxing for the foreseeable future. And then there’s Jake Paul. If he fights MMA in the PFL, that would attract a lot of attention.
All of this means that it will remain to be seen whether this new PFL can truly succeed in the UFC. Perhaps in the future, the PFL will be able to recruit top free agents leaving the UFC. But these opportunities are rare.
“I think their cap table and their investors are just too smart to be wrong,” a high-level MMA agent recently told ESPN, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I don’t think they’ll ever be number one, but I think they’ll be competitive.”
What is the impact on the PFL season format?
Okamoto: For now, and this could always change by spring 2024 when the season begins, the plan is for the regular season to still consist of six weight classes. The weight classes could change from what they are in 2023, but there are no plans in place at this time to expand to more weight classes. The biggest impact will be the depth of the courses. The PFL has done a good job in recent years recruiting free agents to have their weight classes different from season to season, but at the same time some matchups had become stale. We were starting to see similarities from year to year. With the injection of Bellator’s roster, these weight classes are going to be exponentially better.
Will this attract high-profile free agents to the PFL?
Okamoto: Money attracts free agents. Athletes will go where they can make the most money, and the PFL has a proven track record: in certain situations, it is willing to be the highest bidder. In general, PFL has become an attractive promotion simply because it is gaining recognition. This becomes more and more credible with each passing year. Adding this level of Bellator talent, and so much of it at once, only continues this trend. The PFL is not on equal footing with the UFC, there is no doubt about that, but it is a realistic and viable platform for the best talent in the world. And once again, and most importantly, she showed that she is willing to pay for the best talent in the world.
Will this deal have implications for the antitrust class action lawsuit against the UFC?
Raimondi: Potentially. The message that PFL has already broadcast, namely that “our list of fighters [is] equal to the UFC”, will almost surely be used by the UFC’s lawyers in this case to demonstrate that the promotion is not a monopsony (a company that is the only buyer in a market) and does not have the MMA market stranglehold lawyers have requested additional information, particularly information from other MMA promotions showing they enjoy market freedom, ahead of a potential trial start date of April 2024.
The court doesn’t seem very inclined to extend that start date, but a development like this could change things. Regardless, the UFC may consider immediately using the news of PFL’s acquisition of Bellator as part of its pitch. Don’t be surprised if UFC lawyers also mention that the Saudis have a minority stake in the PFL and now Bellator. This is absolutely useful information for the defendants in the antitrust lawsuit. Now, none of this could convince a court that the UFC is not a monopsony, but it could be a boon for the UFC’s case.
