The more mixed martial arts (MMA), the merrier, right?
Ever since Professional Fighters League (PFL) dumped delusional
, loud-mouthed founder Don Davis last year, the promotion has been on a tremendous run.The matchmaking has really improved. The roster is strong and great prospects keep getting signed. The fights have been very fun. The finishes have been nasty.
There is just one massive problem: Not a soul is watching.
Did you even know PFL dropped its incredibly confusing world tournament-league
format?
Yep, that happened late last year. And while the format did make PFL unique — instead of just another run-of-the-mill fight promotion — moving away from it was probably for the best because it simply was not working.
Now, yes, PFL is essentially another promotion just putting on fights.
No promotion is ever catching UFC at this point. Not anymore. Not with PRIDE and Strikeforce gone for more than a decade and UFC having 33 years to build itself into the premier combat sports product.
UFC is the NFL of MMA.
And that is fine.
PFL does not need to be UFC. It just needs to be a strong, reliable No. 2 promotion that gives fighters another real option and gives fans more quality MMA to watch.
So, why should you watch PFL?
Simple: the roster is very good, and the matchmaking has been lights out.
Well, mostly.
Matchmaking Benson Henderson to get exterminated by Patrick Habirora, one of the best Welterweight prospects in the sport, was a little insane. But for the most part, PFL has done a strong job creating competitive, action-heavy matchups.
In just eight major PFL events this year — excluding PFL Africa and PFL MENA — 55 percent of all fights have ended in a finish. And the majority of those fights have not been obvious squash matches.
That is clever matchmaking.
Maybe the names get your attention, too.
PFL’s roster includes Usman Nurmagomedov, who might be the best Lightweight in the world; Johnny Eblen, one of the best Middleweights on the planet; Dakota Ditcheva, one of the most exciting female fighters in MMA; Thad Jean, an electric Welterweight; and A.J. McKee, still one of the best Featherweights alive.
That is a real roster … and I’m leaving out even more great fighters.
So, how do you watch?
That is where the problem really starts.
PFL is currently locked behind “ESPN Unlimited,” ESPN’s streaming service, which costs $29.99 per month. And in a world where everything is expensive and there are already ten thousand streaming services, most people are not going to subscribe to another one just to find PFL.
Even worse, if you do have the app, PFL feels hidden away.
It almost feels like ESPN is burying the fight promotion in retaliation for losing UFC.
PFL CEO John Martin knows it, too.
“ESPN isn’t doing anything to promote us,” Martin told MMAmania.com. “It is the biggest problem we have right now, and it’s frustrating for me, as you might imagine. We had to fix the product, and we did that. ESPN hasn’t invested time or money into the PFL, and it’s a shame. They’ve done virtually nothing. I was hopeful they would help us, but they haven’t.”
PFL is currently negotiating with potential new broadcast partners, and it cannot afford to get this wrong. If the promotion ends up locked behind another streaming service that casual fans do not use — or worse, do not even know exists — it could be disastrous.
Maybe even fatal.
PFL’s next broadcast deal is the most important decision the promotion has ever had to make.
But with Martin at the helm, there is at least reason for optimism. Before taking over PFL, he had a long and successful career at TNT, so he knows the television business. He knows distribution. He knows visibility matters.
“ESPN isn’t doing anything to promote us,” Martin told MMAmania.com. “It is the biggest problem we have right now, and it’s frustrating for me, as you might imagine. We had to fix the product, and we did that. ESPN hasn’t invested time or money into the PFL, and it’s a shame. They’ve done virtually nothing. I was hopeful they would help us, but they haven’t.”
That is a brutal quote.
It is also why PFL’s next broadcast deal is the most important decision the promotion has ever had to make.
PFL is currently negotiating with potential new broadcast partners, and it cannot afford to get this wrong. If the promotion ends up locked behind another streaming service that casual fans do not use — or worse, do not even know exists — it could be disastrous.
Maybe even fatal.
But with Martin at the helm, there is at least reason for optimism. Before taking over PFL, he had a long and successful career at TNT, so he knows the television business. He knows distribution. He knows visibility matters.
And right now, that is exactly what PFL needs.
Because the product is not the problem anymore.
PFL is genuinely on fire right now, and it is a shame that so few people seem to care. I understand it is popular to dump on any MMA promotion that is not UFC, but for the long-term health of the sport, there needs to be a solid No. 2.
Fighters need leverage. Prospects need opportunities. Veterans need landing spots. Fans need more than one major stage.
PFL can be that promotion.
It just needs people to actually see it.
PFL returns this Saturday for PFL Washington D.C., and the main event is the best fight of the weekend in all of MMA — sorry, Big Ank — as Thad Jean collides with Shamil Musaev for the vacant Welterweight title.
And if you missed PFL Austin last week, Johnny Eblen brutally knocked out Impa Kasanganay in one of the nastier finishes of the year (watch highlights).
So, yes, PFL is worth watching.
Now it just needs a broadcast partner that actually helps people watch it.
For all the latest PFL news and notes click here.
