'Every fight is Game 7': How PFL, with its seasonal format and big signings, is growing

Donn Davis had never seen as much as one MMA bout on the night of July 10, 2016. UFC 200 had been held in front of a sell-out crowd in Las Vegas the night before and some of the greatest fighters in the sport’s history — Amanda Nunes, Miesha Tate, Anderson Silva and Daniel Cormier, among others — had taken part in the show.

Davis knew little about MMA, but he understood business and he had an eye for opportunity.

The news on July 10, 2016, included a little nugget that the UFC had been sold for more than $4 billion to a group led by Endeavor.

Despite not following MMA at all, that price and those involved in purchasing it grabbed Davis’ attention quickly.

“I saw that the UFC had been sold for $4 billion and it was like, ‘Wow,’ ” Davis told Yahoo Sports. “I grew up watching boxing. I grew up and remain a big sports fan. ... But at that point, I hadn’t watched MMA. I was aware of it, of course, but I hadn’t seen it.

“Then I see the news about the sale. And I set all my work aside that day and I called my wife at 8 o’clock [while I was] still at the office, running a venture capital firm with Steve Case and Ted Leonsis. And I said, ‘Hey, I’m going to start an MMA league.’ This is my wife of 25 years and she says, ‘That’s awesome, but one, you have a job. And two, you don’t watch any MMA.’ ”

Davis’ wife, Sharon, had an undergraduate degree from Columbia and a law degree from Harvard. Her doubts, though, didn’t dissuade her husband.

He did a little research and learned there are 650 million people in the world who consider themselves MMA fans. That was enough for him.

And thus, the Professional Fighters League was born.

Davis didn’t create the PFL with the idea that he would take on the UFC for dominance in the marketplace. The UFC, after all, had a 25-year head start and was to MMA what the NFL is to football or the NBA is to basketball. And major league MMA was the UFC, despite a slew of contenders over the years.

Davis understood that. But he saw an underserved marketplace and felt he could create his own niche within it.

He did it by creating a seasonal format in which fighters would compete for spots in the playoffs. The playoffs, he said, were his idea of MMA meeting the NCAA tournament. And the winner of the tournament would make $1 million.

The PFL has tried hard to differentiate itself from the UFC by its season format. It’s not matchmaking based. Hard-core MMA fans are now aware that the UFC matchmaking team of president Dana White, chief business officer Hunter Campbell and matchmakers Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby huddle every Tuesday to make fights.

Davis called the PFL’s way of doing it a meritocracy. Fighters earn points for winning and for getting finishes and the fighters with the most points in the regular season qualify for the playoffs.

“Look at how big March Madness has become in this country,” Davis said. “Part of the reason for that is those upsets, and you never know what’s going to happen. You might have a school no one has ever heard of come in ranked 16th and knock off the No. 1 seed, the team that everyone thought would win it all. It’s become enormous. And we’re trying to do that.

“The fighters determine who wins the million, not us. They determine the seedings and the fights and everything by winning. You might see a highly touted fighter lose, and maybe it’s someone we’ve paid a lot of money to. We don’t control that and it’s a meritocracy. And I think the fans appreciate that. We’re not matchmaking the fights and trying to make sure anyone wins.”

The playoffs began earlier this month, but continue in New York on Friday and on Aug. 23. Both will be at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The finals will be on Nov. 24 at a site to be determined.

Former UFC title contender Kenny Florian works as a broadcaster for the PFL on ESPN. He said the PFL’s season format allows fighters to be more active and, in many cases, earn more than they could have even if they were in the UFC.

Nearly all of the UFC champions make more than $1 million a fight, and most of them fight more than once a year. But the PFL’s $1 million championship prize is money a lot of MMA fighters could never imagine earning in a single night.

But Florian pointed out that the fighters don’t have to negotiate to earn that kind of money. Win four times and it’s theirs.

“You can determine your own destiny by getting there [into the playoffs],” Florian said. “You do it by doing the things you’re supposed to do: Winning, and then winning impressively. You get more points for winning impressively so that’s important. Sometimes [in other MMA organizations], you can have a great performance and still not get the fight that you want.”

The problem with the seasonal format is that you could get fights that aren’t necessarily that attractive, and if you have a dominant fighter or two in a weight class, they could wind up fighting repeatedly season after season.

Also, March Madness works in college basketball because there is long-established loyalty to teams. People root for their alma mater or the team where they live. But the fighters are often changing year after year, so it’s not an equivalent.

The PFL, though, is growing. It recently signed former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou as a free agent. It's allowing him to box WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a bout later this year that was a point of contention with Ngannou and the UFC.

And it will put Ngannou into its PPV division, where the fights will theoretically be of wider interest. One of the issues the PFL may find is getting a quality opponent for Ngannou, who would be a massive favorite over any of the heavyweights on their roster. There was talk of the PFL signing Derrick Lewis, the UFC’s knockout king, after Lewis’ UFC contract expired and having him fight Ngannou in Ngannou’s first PFL bout.

Lewis, though, recently re-signed an eight-fight deal with the UFC.

Davis, though, remains optimistic about the PFL’s future. Its broadcast deal with ESPN expires at the end of this season, but they’re in talks to return. Davis said the PFL will look at other alternatives, as well, though he stressed he’s pleased with the partnership with ESPN.

“Look, I watch a big UFC [pay-per-view] fight, and it’s great; I love watching a big Top Rank [boxing] fight, too,” Davis said. “I have nothing bad to say about that. But what I love about what we’ve created in the PFL is this: Every fight is Game 7. You lose, you’re done for the year. If you win, good for you, you’re moving on and you have a shot at the million.

“There’s no gamesmanship and no politics and no b.s. I love that. … We’re still a young and growing company and we’re already 40 percent of the UFC. Fans are showing they like it. And look, there are a lot of MMA fans in this world and they’re being underserved. We’re trying to serve them what they’re looking for.”