The Professional Fighters League is linking up with DAZN to launch a mixed martial arts league in Europe.
DAZN will replace the PFL’s existing broadcasters in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa on a “multiyear contract” worth “tens of millions of dollars” annually, PFL founder and chair Donn Davis told Front Office Sports.
- PFL Europe will be “the first-ever regional MMA league from a global MMA organization,” Davis said.
- The venture will launch in the first half of 2023.
- Fights will be broadcast across 73 territories.
“All the fighters will be from Europe,” said Davis. “All the fights will be held locally in Europe. All the fights, importantly, will be primetime in Europe. And so really PFL is meeting the European MMA fans where they’re at.”
Deep Into DAZN
The arrangement further extends the relationship between PFL and DAZN.
The sports streamer will broadcast around 25 PFL fights annually between PFL Global, PFL Challenger, and the coming European league. PFL Europe will start at around four-to-six fights per year and grow from there, per Davis.
“The strong markets for UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championship] and PFL overlap,” Davis explained. “MMA is strong in seven main regions around the world: United States, Asia, India, the Middle East, Russia, Latin America, and emerging in Africa. Each one of those has over 50 million fans, and a lot of them have over 100 million.”
