Donn Davis’ highly anticipated appearance on Ariel Helwani’s show came on the heels of the Professional Fighters League purchase of rival Bellator MMA being officially announced. Starting in 2024, the PFL will run both brands, Bellator in eight standalone events mainly focusing on international markets.

Davis revealed that they reached out to Viacom/Paramount, under which Bellator fell, in January of 2023, with no idea that the company would beginning divesting assets in the Spring. It was a slow process, in terms of talks. “Mergers take time,” as Davis pointed out.

Viacom becomes a minority owner in the company. Davis, who built his reputation as an entrepreneur and businessman with America Online, the Chicago Cubs, and his own venture capital firm, revealed the deal was done entirely in stock. “I think what they saw with PFL was an opportunity become part of a big company moving forward. So this was a stock deal, not a cash deal.”

With Paramount a “small” owner and no cash changing hands, it was a “great deal for us,” said Davis, adding he was “very happy” with how things played out.

Asked how close he thought the PFL was to the UFC, Donn Davis took note of UFC President and CEO Dana White being more vocal about the rival promotion recently. The company made waves in 2023 by signing the likes of Francis Ngannou, Jake Paul, Cedric Doumbe, and others.

“Everybody knows Dana well enough that he only dismisses things that worry him, or else he just doesn’t comment. He didn’t comment on the PFL for four years, because he wasn’t worried,” suggested Davis. “He’s commented on the PFL a lot the last six months. He’s worried.”

“What specifically worried him about Bellator is the metrics we put out in the press release. 30% of that roster ranked in the top 25 per Fight Matrix rankings. So this isn’t, Dana gets to rank his own guys, Donn’s ranking his own guys. As you know there’s only one group that ranks all fighters, Fight Matrix, independently. 30% of the UFC roster is top 25-ranked, and now our combined company of PFL and Bellator, 30%.”

“The same. Now, to UFC’s credit, if you look at top five in the world, they still own the top five, one through five. So call it PPV cards, we couldn’t compete with them right now, which is why we’re only going to have two, and they have twelve.”

Davis, however, thinks the TV product from the PFL this year will be better. “Our cards are going to be better. Better. Because what they put on this year was ranked 70 and what we’re going to put on next year is ranked 40.” Davis believes that has White talking, questioning why the PFL would buy Bellator, “because he’s smart.”

“UFC ain’t the NFL. We’re not the XFL. But he wants you to think that. And it’s just a matter of time before that starts to get more well-known, and we’re not the number two, we’re a co-leader. He doesn’t want that. That’s what’s going on.”

Later, Davis would make it clear that there’s no axe to grind with the UFC, nor an attempt to take over the MMA market and displace the leading promotion in the sport.

“UFC is a great company and they invented this industry. This is not about taking share or shifting share. MMA is growing. MMA is growing 10% a year, every other sport 2-3%. They’re going to do well. We’re just going to do really, really well,” said Davis. “And I’m excited to have my new teammates at Bellator, I’m excited to have all our new fighters propelling us forward, and we’re going to win. The next time we’re on here, when people laughed that we’re going to be a co-leader, we’re going to be a co-leader. Just like they laughed when we said we’re going to be #2, and we’re #2. And so to me, if you’re on the new Bellator team, if you’re on the new combined team, declare victory.”

In five years, Donn Davis expects to be able to reach that co-leader goal. “We’re the co-leader in MMA, flat out. But we do things different, we think different, we innovate different. We don’t have dogma. We co-promote. We give fighters opportunity, we let them box, we give 50% PPV share, we think different. And we’re the co-leader. They do what they do, fantastic. We do what we do, market’s big enough for two very, very big companies.”

The 2023 PFL Championship takes place this Friday in Washington, D.C. A Bellator vs. PFL champion versus champion card is expected for Q1 2024, said Davis, with TV deals in the U.S. and Canada ready to be announced for the PFL, while Bellator TV deals are in the works. As for Bellator’s Lightweight Grand Prix, Davis couldn’t answer whether it will complete as scheduled or not.

The post Donn Davis Reveals PFL Plans for Bellator MMA, Believes Dana White “Worried” appeared first on Cageside Press.

The MMA landscape changed forever. A new era has 𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗗@PFLMMA acquires @BellatorMMA creating a 𝗚𝗟𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗠𝗔 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗘 pic.twitter.com/fWldsDNpPC

— PFL (@PFLMMA) November 20, 2023

The PFL has officially acquired Bellator and it means a new day has officially arrived in the MMA landscape.

Per a press release, Bellator will continue as a “reimagined brand” in 2024 with “all Bellator fighters becoming available to compete in PFL franchises.”  Exactly how this is expected to be divided is still uncertain but it does confirm that the contracts of all Bellator fighters will indeed go under the umbrella of the PFL, thus adding a significant amount of elite talent to their already respectable roster.

The Todd Atkins MMA Show first reported news of a potential sale of Bellator to the PFL earlier this year. In late October, journalist Al Zullino reported that the sale had been finalized.

PFL CEO Donn Davis announced that the Bellator brand would operate primarily outside of the US as “Bellator International Champions Series” which hints that the brand would continue their strong presence in Europe where fan reception to events has been astronomical.

Davis also announced that the plan was to host a super-event next year that would feature the Bellator champions against the PFL champions, the latter of which will be determined at their event this Friday which concludes the 2023 season.

As of this writing, it has not been established exactly which fighters will continue to anchor the Bellator brand and which will be part of the PFL vs Bellator event.  It should be noted, however, that the PFL does not currently have divisions for several of the weight classes that Bellator does such as men’s bantamweight, men’s middleweight, and women’s flyweight.  Another point to address is that it is completely possible that just because the fighters are in a division that the PFL houses it does not mean that they will fight in the PFL immediately.

Exactly where Bellator goes with their lightweight Grand Prix is unclear and has not yet been addressed.  On Friday, Alexandr Shabliy defeated Patricky “Pitbull” Freire to reach the finals of the tournament.  A week earlier, champion  Usman Nurmagomedov had his victory over Brent Primus overturned to a No Contest after testing positive for a banned substance.  What the promotion’s plan, if there was one at all with the impending merger, for the tournament going forward was not made official.  Whether there is a tournament final at all as part of the Bellator International Series has not been announced.

PFL CEO Donn Davis is scheduled to make a media appearance later today to discuss the merger.

The post PFL Officially Acquires Bellator MMA, Bellator to Continue Internationally appeared first on Cageside Press.

Ngannou is set to face boxing champion Tyson Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Oct. 28th according to Mike Coppinger of ESPN.

No word as to if this is an exhibition match or if Fury’s titles will be one the line in the match.

Ngannou had been asking for the opportunity to have some boxing matches when his UFC contract ran out and the two sides began to negotiate. After a long negotiation, much of it seemingly done in the media, they could not come to an agreement and Ngannou left the UFC.

Not long after he signed with PFL with the promotion giving him much of what he asked for including the ability to take on boxing matches while still being signed to the promotion. Ngannou had been campaigning for a boxing match with Fury for quite a while, but it seemed as though the fight would never come to fruition.

UFC president Dana White actually made his case for now UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones to fight Tyson Fury in the UFC, but nothing came of it. The most action we saw between the two were in social media posts poking at each other.

So now the matchup Ngannou wanted is set, and even though the details are still being worked out, he’s at least got a date with “The Gypsy King” set.

The post Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou Set For Oct. 28 Boxing Match In Saudi Arabia appeared first on Cageside Press.

PFL made the announcement on Thursday.

The regular season is currently underway so the matchups for the event are still to be determined, but the event will feature the featherweight and light heavyweight divisions per PFL.

This is the league’s second visit to Texas as they held three events in Arlington in 2022.

As of now 2022 featherweight champ Brendan Loughnane leads the featherweights with five points and is trailed by Bubba Jenkins, Movlid Khaybulaev, and Gabriel Braga with 3 points each.

At light heavyweight Marthin Hamlet is in first place with 6 points, followed by Josh Silveira with 6 points, and Ty Flores with 3 points.

Rob Wilkinson had 3 points and was the 4th seed prior to being removed for the season following a failed drug test for an unspecified substance. Thiago Silva and Krzysztof Jotko also failed drug tests.

The announcement of the PFL playoffs setting follows a bittersweet couple of weeks for the promotion.

The announcement of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou signing with the promotion was shortly followed by reports that 10 PFL fighters were flagged for failed drug tests.

The post PFL 2023 Playoffs Will Begin In San Antonio On Aug. 4 appeared first on Cageside Press.

At the post-fight press conference for UFC Vegas 73 on Saturday night White told the media how he felt about Ngannou’s deal with PFL.

“Based on what I know about the deal, which is not much, it makes no sense to me,” White told reporters.

“You’re going to pay a guy not to fight for a year. And it’s already been like 18 months. He’s fought three times in the last three years. It’s just not what we do here. It’s not what we do.”

White went on to suggest that Ngannou did not want to chance losing to now heavyweight champion Jon Jones in the octagon.

“The day that we released him, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Francis wants to take zero risk. He doesn’t want to take any chances. He obviously didn’t want to take a chance against Jon Jones,” said White.

White took it a step further and suggested the outcome of Jones vs. Ciryl Gane affected Ngannou’s decision.

“After what happened with Ciryl Gane, I don’t blame him. I think the outcome would have been exactly the same, and I’m sure most of you do, and I think Francis does too,” White said.

Ngannou didn’t take the criticism sitting down. The former UFC champion took to twitter to fire back at his former boss.

What is your problem with me?

1. I completed my contract, was a free agent, and chose to walk away. you didn’t release me

2. I hate taking risks? that’s why I defended my title to fulfill my contract with no acl or mcl?

— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) May 21, 2023

“What is your problem with me?,” Ngannou tweets to begin his thread.

“1. I complete my contract, was a free agent, and chose to walk away. you didn’t release me,” he continued.

The negotiation saga if you will between the UFC and Ngannou was well publicized when it began. It ended up being a very long courtship that ended with Ngannou walking away.

“2. I hate taking risks? that’s why I defended my title to fulfill my contract with no acl or mcl,” said Ngannou.

Following his victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in Jan 2022 Ngannou revealed that he was dealing with a knee injury before and during the fight. In the fight he employed a wrestling-heavy game plan and earned the unanimous decision victory.

“3. The reason I fought three times in three years is because you wanted to control my deal and signs a new one. And freeze me out. “I owe these guys three fights a year.” Isn’t that what you say? What happened? I always asked for & never said no to any fight in the 3 years,” continued Ngannou.

The former champ fought Jairzinho Rozenstruik in 2020, Stipe Miocic in 2021, and Gane in 2022. There’s not much clarity on how many fights Ngannou was offered in the span of those three years, but it seems as though that didn’t happen for him, going off his tweets.

“I’m finally getting paid and respected, and have a deal that’s fair and equal for all parties. Why are you so against me being free and happy,” Ngannou finished the thread.

White likely isn’t happy to have lost out on a major bout between Ngannou and Jones. It’s to be seen if White will continue to talk about the deal with the media or move on.

The post Francis Ngannou Fires Back At Dana White Comments, On Social Media appeared first on Cageside Press.

The Professional Fighter’s League may be less than two weeks removed from their first round match-ups, but they are showing no sign of slowing down as the promotion announced their first set of match-ups for their upcoming card on June 8 to begin the second round.

Headlining the card will be defending featherweight champion Brendan Loughnane (27-4) against Peruvian product Jesus Pinedo (20-6-1).  On the heels of his title winning victory last fall, Loughnane wasted little time in establishing himself in the 2023 as he dismantled former UFC title challenger Marlon Moraes in his season opener earlier this month.  Pinedo enters the bout seeking his first victory under the PFL banner as he dropped a split-decision to Gabriel Alves Braga in his season opener.  A UFC veteran who split a pair of fights in the Octagon between 2018 and 2019, Pinedo’s professional career has seen him largely compete in his native Peru to become one of the more experienced new faces in the 2023 season.

In the co-headliner, defending light heavyweight champion “Razor” Rob Wilkinson (18-2) take on Will Fleury (12-3) who looks to make a statement following a successful season opener earlier this month.  Wilkinson kicked off the tournament with an assertive performance over UFC veteran Thiago Santos while Fleury was given the nod over new signee Krzysztof Jotko in a split-decision earlier on the main card.  Notably, the two will potentially have a lot of ground to cover as they are tied with three points each.  Fellow light heavyweights Marthin Hamlet and Josh Silveira have twice as many points with six which means that there is a scenario where Wilkinson and/or Fleury could get eliminated from the playoffs with a loss.

The card will also feature the aforementioned Thiago Santos (22-12) look to get his first PFL victory when he takes on Mohammed Fakhreddine (15-5) of Lebanon in a bout in which both men are in a must-win situation to keep their title hopes alive.  In other marquee action, 2021 featherweight champion Movlid Khaybulaev (20-0-1) will continue his march towards the playoffs when he takes on former KSW champion Daniel Torres (14-6) who will need to pull off an epic upset to keep his own tournament hopes alive.

The card will also feature a pair of lightweight showcase bouts with Abigail Montes and Challenger Series veteran Alexei Pergande set to compete against yet to be announced opponents.

The full fight card is as follows:

ESPN Card:

• Brendan Loughnane vs. Jesus Pinedo
• Robert Wilkinson vs. Will Fleury
• Thiago Santos vs. Mohammed Fakhreddine
• Movlid Khaybulaev vs. Daniel Torres
• Marthin Hamlet vs. Sam Kei

ESPN+ Card:

• Joshua Silveria vs. Delan Monte
• Bubba Jenkins vs. Jo Sungbin
• Krzystof Jotko vs. Ty Flores
• Alejandro Flores vs. Marlon Moraes
• Chris Wade vs. Ryoji Kudo
• Abigail Montes vs. TBA Showcase
• Alexei Pergande vs. TBA Showcase

The June 8 event, PFL 4, as well as the subsequent events on the 16th and the 23rd are set to take place at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

The post PFL Announces 2023 Second Round Match-ups for June 8 Event in Atlanta appeared first on Cageside Press.

Although Brady himself sees it as wild, he’s here to prove that you don’t need a massive record or even a lot of notice (he takes this on just three weeks) to make a big splash.

“It’s pretty cool. It’s no secret that I have the least amount of experience in the tournament. There’s 10 guys and I’m the only one with under ten fights,” Brady said. “It’s pretty wild, but I’m excited for the opportunity to prove that it’s just a number.”

His confidence in himself comes from his preparation. He splits his time between a couple of Philadelphia area gyms where he trains alongside of the Daukaus brothers, as well as Sean Brady, Andre Petroski, and Joe Pyfer.

His time with these fighters isn’t as short as his record might suggest though. It was the better part of a decade ago when he decided to change his life around and found MMA as a result.

“I’ve been out here grinding for a long time, brother. I got sober in 2016 – I’m active in recovery and part of Alcoholic’s Anonymous. I made some lifestyle changes in 2016 and I made my amateur MMA debut in 2018,” he shared. “I got my mind right and I wanted the body to follow.”

But when he made those changes, he didn’t really expect them to lead to a long MMA career – nevermind one that would put him in a PFL season with the chance at a million dollars.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect anything to come of this. I kind of just wanted to get in shape and wanted to learn something new,” Brady admitted. “I did a boxing match and there was somebody there who did MMA – he told me that he was tougher than me because he did MMA. I wanted to find out what he was talking about.”

Just two months after that, Brady was in the cage for his very first amateur fight and fell in love doing it. So while he never imagined that just trying to get his body right would send him down this path, here he is with a chance to make a big splash in one of the biggest organizations in the world.

His first fight in the regular season will take place this Friday as part of the ESPN+ prelims. He’ll face Michał Andryszak – a man with 35 professional fights to his name.

You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 34:28.

The post PFL 2’s Patrick Brady: Never Expected This Kind of Chance appeared first on Cageside Press.

Fred Kirby and Eddie Law talk the move to Cageside Press, and what viewers can expect from the show.

The fellas talk 2023 and, just five days in, the amount of drama that’s already happened in the MMA world. Dana White’s incident in Mexico, Phil Baroni being arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend (also in Mexico), and the consequences and fallout from that.

Additionally they’ll touch on Dillon Danis pulling out of the boxing match with KSI, Ilia Topuria’s bar fight, and Bellator possibly being on the market.

Then they’ll touch on upcoming UFC, Bellator, ONE Championship and PFL events.

Oh, and of course the boys will talk about Jake Paul signing with PFL, offering Nate Diaz a two-fight deal, his role within PFL (as a fighter advocate, while helping to launch the Pay Per View Super-Fight division), and a whole lot more.

Keyboard Warriors is an interactive show so be sure to jump in the chat and hang out while we talk some face-punching!

Watch the show LIVE at 5:30PM PT/8:30PM ET on YouTube, Twitter (@CagesidePress) and Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/cagesidepress). Definitely Not Safe for Work — so viewer discretion is advised!

The post Watch Keyboard Warriors Ep. 317 Live Now On YouTube appeared first on Cageside Press.

The New York Times was the first to report the story.

Paul, 25, will compete in a newly-created division called Super Fight within PFL. He will be part of future PFL PPVs as part of the deal.

As part of the announcement Paul has posted a video detailing the move to the PFL. You can see it above.

In the video Paul says he has offered MMA star Nate Diaz a two-fight deal which consists of a boxing match and an MMA fight. Diaz has not responded to the claim as of this post.

Paul had been teasing a move to MMA for a while now, and has signed a contract with PFL that is actually quite unique. As part of the deal Paul, and his business partner and former UFC CFO Nakisa Bidarian, own an equity share of the PFL.

Paul’s title within the PFL will be known as “Head of Fighter Advocacy”. Bidarian will work with PFL on league operations and logistics according to the New York Times.

In Paul’s Super Fight division fighters will reportedly earn at least 50 percent of PPV revenue. PFL will be broadcast on both ESPN and DAZN. The division is meant, as the name says, for super fights with fighters who are already draws in the sport.

“This is about changing MMA, disrupting, innovating, and creating the next big league,” said Paul told the NY Times.

Paul, 6-0 in boxing, has competed against MMA fighters in boxing. He’s defeated Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and most recently Anderson Silva. Paul earned a unanimous decision victory over the MMA legend recently in Arizona.

No fights have been announced for Paul in either boxing or MMA at this point.

The post Jake Paul Signs With PFL, To Compete In Both Boxing And MMA In 2023 appeared first on Cageside Press.

It took only a week after being released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship for Aspen Ladd to find a new home.  The Professional Fighters League announced on Tuesday morning that Ladd would be joining the PFL.   ESPN reports that Ladd will be competing in a new featherweight division that the promotion will be opening in the 2023 season.

🚨 OFFICIAL: @TheAspenLadd is PFL bound! pic.twitter.com/8WzWx3fSD5

— PFL (@PFLMMA) October 4, 2022

Ladd (9-3) quickly rose up the UFC ranks as an undefeated 22 year-old who was a breath of fresh air in the stagnant bantamweight division.  After opening her career 7-0 including three victories in the Octagon, Ladd suffered her first professional loss in what was seen as a title eliminator against Germaine de Randamie in 2019.  Ladd would go on to post a 1-2 record following the loss, most recently dropping a bout to Raquel Pennington this past April.

In the past several years, consistent struggles to make weight have cast a cloud over what was forecasted to be a promising career for the young upstart.  Weight misses on her part have cancelled three of her bouts since 2016, including her most recent scheduled bout against Sara McMann last month.  Even when she made weight, frightening scenes such as the ones surrounding her loss to de Randamie as she looked to be on the verge of a medical disaster led to concern about her ability to make the 135 limit safely. Notably, Ladd had also moved up to featherweight for one bout on a week’s notice in 2021 after a weight miss cancelled one of her bouts.  She made the decision to stay at bantamweight afterwards.

Following the cancellation of her bout with McMann in September, Ladd was released from the promotion after the repeated struggles with the scale.   UFC President Dana White said about the decision “we tried to work with her” but that it “had to happen.”

The PFL has not had a women’s featherweight division in their short history, instead electing to hold a lightweight division that has largely been populated by women who competed at featherweight or bantamweight in other organizations.  While Ladd’s name value would suggest a possible marquee bout with promotional star Kayla Harrison in 2023, it should be noted that  the current plan is for Harrison to compete outside the tournament format next year and only be part of their pay-per-view events.  Thus a bout between the two (at least in 2023) is unlikely.

In a statement released by the PFL, Ladd said about joining the promotion:

“I want to thank the Professional Fighters League for giving me the opportunity to continue my career in the PFL SmartCage,” said Ladd. “I am excited about the PFL’s sport season format where you win and advance based on talent and merit. I look forward to testing myself against the best women in the world.”

The post Former UFC Bantamweight Aspen Ladd Signs with Professional Fighters League appeared first on Cageside Press.