Professional Fighters League courts investors and reveals plans to launch Australian mixed martial arts competition

The fast-growing Professional Fighters League wants to take on giants like UFC and sees Australia as a key part of that strategy. Local fighters – and money – will help.

David Zelner and Abdullah Al-Qahtani from the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

The fast-growing mixed martial arts Professional Fighters League (PFL) will launch a local league in Australia within 18 months as part of a global strategy to compete with giant rival Ultimate Fighters Championship (UFC).

The PFL, valued at $US500m ($785m) last year — and boasting shareholders ranging from investment firm Ares Capital to US baseball star Alex Rodriguez and rapper Wiz Khalifa — recently received a reported $US100m funding injection from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund that will help with its expansion plans.

PFL’s New York-based chief executive Peter Murray confirmed to The Australian that the circuit will launch an Australian-based league in 2025, as part of a launch that will include a local office, raising funding from Australian investors and clinching broadcast deals and agreements with state government major events bodies.

“Within the next three years we will have six international leagues up and running,” Mr Murray said in an interview. “We’re the number two MMA in the world company today, and poised to be co-leaders.

“We believe in Australia as a major sports market, there is a passionate fan base who are looking for broader opportunities to engage in combat sports beyond football and rugby. And there’s clearly high demand for MMA in Australia.”

PFL CEO Peter Murray says he is confident his organisation can quickly gain market share.

While PFL is growing quickly and has big expansion plans it is still about far behind the UFC, which just grossed more gate revenue – about $8m – than any other area event in Australian history for its Sydney event in September.

UFC is now owned by the New York Stock Exchange-listed Endeavor Group, which merged UFC with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to form a company that now has market capitalisation of $US9.8bn.

While the PFL is worth a tenth of that for now, Mr Murray says he is confident his organisation can quickly gain market share by forming its own country or regional leagues for fighters to compete in that then feed up into continental and then global championships.

In that way it is similar to a sport like soccer, where the best clubs in the English Premier League can qualify for the European Champions League and then nations play in their continental championships and also the World Cup.

It is that structure that Mr Murray says is a key point of difference between the PFL and UFC, which usually holds a series of events around the world.

“Last weekend we had our debut tournament there (PFL Europe 3) and it was the most viewed MMA event in the history of France and the sport there. It surpassed the UFC by over 30 per cent in terms of viewership,” Mr Murray claimed.

David Zelner and Abdullah Al-Qahtani from the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

“That is an example of our strategy of wanting regional leagues and these leagues becoming the leading and premier league in those regions.”

The PFL’s expansion rollout will include the launch of a league in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and then Africa in 2024, Australia in 2025 and then Latin America the following year, all tapping into the burgeoning popularity of mixed martial arts.

“(MMA) has the third largest fanbase in the world, behind soccer and basketball. It has 650 million fans; 80 per cent of that fanbase outside the US, and the youngest fan base of all major traditional sport – the median age is 35,” Mr Murray said.

“So we think there’s a massively underserved fan base given UFC only holds 40 events per year.

“It is young and highly engaged, and half of the fanbase aren’t watching stick and ball sports, so they represent to investors and media companies a growth sport and an opportunity to capture that new and young growing fanbase.

“And today, unlike even just five years ago, MMA is now mainstream. MMA is on major tier-one linear and digital media, and no longer tucked away on niche fighting channels.”

The PFL has a broadcast deal with sports giant ESPN in the US, and Mr Murray claims it has achieved 40 per cent of the ratings UFC enjoys after only four seasons.

In Australia, PFL has engaged advisory firm Freshwater Strategy to assist with raising capital.

“Those conversations are underway and there has been a high level of interest in the sport and our model,” Mr Murray said.

“This is a growth play and we are committed long-term to growing the sport in Australia and creating business opportunities and athlete pathways from Australia to around the world.”