By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
The PFL, Professional Fighters League, has officially acquired
Bellator MMA. The PFL was founded in 2017 by Donn Davis and launched in 2018 after it had acquired the World Series of Fighting, WSOF. The PFL differs from Bellator in some pretty major ways. The PFL has a regular season, playoffs, and championship rather than a year-round fighting structure. Their season culminates with each Season Champion winning $1 million dollars. In the 2023 season they had six weight divisions compared to nine in Bellator. The PFL just finished their 2023 season last week. The divisions and current champions are listed below, as are the champions for Bellator.
PFL
Men’s Featherweight- 145 lbs. Jesus Pinedo (23-6-1)
Women’s Featherweight- 145 lbs. Larissa Pacheco (23-4)
Men’s Lightweight- 155 lbs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier (21-5, 2-time Season Champion)
Men’s Welterweight- 170 lbs. Magomed Magomedkerimov (35-6, 2-time Season Champion)
Men’s Light Heavyweight- 205 lbs. Impa Kasanganay (15-3)
Men’s Heavyweight- 265 lbs. Renan Ferreira (12-3, 3 No Contests)
Bellator
Women’s Flyweight- 125 lbs. Liz Carmouche (20-7)
Men’s Bantamweight- 135 lbs. Patchy Mix (19-1)
Women’s Featherweight- 145 lbs. Cris Cyborg (27-2, 1 No Contest) Men’s Featherweight- 145 lbs. Patricio Pitbull (35-7)
Men’s Lightweight- 155 lbs. Usman Nurmagomedov (17-0, 1 No Contest) Men’s Welterweight- 170 lbs. Jason Jackson (17-4)
Men’s Middleweight- 185 lbs. Johnny Eblen (14-0)
Men’s Light Heavyweight- 205 lbs. Vadim Nemkov (17-2, 1 No Contest) Men’s Heavyweight- 265 lbs. Ryan Bader (31-7, 1 No Contest) & Interim Champ Valentin Moldavsky (12-3, 1 No Contest)
In the PFL, there’s a two fight regular season with 3 points awarded for a win, with bonus points awarded for a stoppage (3 in Round 1, 2 in Round 2, and 1 in Round 3) and 1 point for a draw with losses earning you no points. The top four in each division are then placed into a win or go home tournament and the winner of that is awarded the championship. So in order to become the season’s champion you have to compete four
times in a year. PFL Founder Donn Davis said that the PFL will not add Men’s Bantamweight and Men’s Middleweight divisions in 2024. He said they would do that probably in 2025 so that they could take a full year and build a strong division for them.
Instead, the plan for 2024 is for PFL to do eight “Superfight” series events, with big name fighters from Bellator who don’t have a home yet in the PFL competing there.
The plan is that they will have events pitting PFL Champions against Bellator Champions in 2024. Those are going to be some very interesting fights. You’ve got Pacheco vs. Cyborg, Pinedo vs. Pitbull, Aubin-Mercier vs. Nurmagomedov, Magomedkerimov vs. Jackson, Kasanganay vs. Nemkov, and Ferreira vs. either Bader or Moldavsky. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Bellator fighters win most of those fights but you never know what could happen. That’s what we all love about sports, upsets happen all the time.
What will also be interesting is to see what changes happen from these plans, if any. Will any of the Bellator fighters want to go elsewhere?
Will they overrun the PFL fighters and dominate the 2024 season? How many upsets will there be in the Superfight series of Champion vs. Champion?
As usual, we’ll have to wait to see. I’ll be watching and I hope you are too. Happy Holidays, everyone.
My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths. Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life. Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace. However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence, the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. There’s lots of action, magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop game in novel form. It’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me. Also, here’s the link to my Compendium book about the Kingdom of Zarias series- KoZ Compendium Thank you very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
Leave a Reply