Mixed Martial Arts: Professional Fighters League event kicks off in Saudi Arabia

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The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is a global powerhouse in MMA (mixed martial arts) and the fastest-growing sports league worldwide. PFL has five live fight franchises, offering year-round content: PFL League Season, PFL PPV Super Fights, PFL Challenger Series, PFL International Leagues, and Bellator.

Founded in 2018, PFL is backed by major blue-chip investors including SRJ, Ares, Knighthead, Luxor Capital, Waverley Capital, Elysian Park Ventures, and numerous NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS team owners.

We spoke to Donn Davis, the founder of Saudi’s PIF-backed Professional Fighters League, ahead of their pay- per-view MMA event – PFL Champions versus Bellator Champions – in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 24. This event is being held in partnership with the General Entertainment Authority and features international fighters, including Muhammad Ali’s grandson and Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Al Qahtani.

February 24 will mark your first PFL event in Saudi Arabia and the region. Explain why you chose the kingdom as your preferred location as opposed to any other country in the region.

Firstly, there is an incredible amount of interest in growing sports and entertainment throughout the Middle East and Africa (MENA), especially so in Saudi Arabia. There is an underserved consumer base in the region, consisting of fans who want access to high-quality MMA events.

For PFL, we had to find the right local partner to bring our vision to life: to develop the sport of MMA. We found the right partner in Saudi Arabia. Our event on February 24 is the first-ever MMA event in the kingdom and we are already sold out for Saturday’s event.

Sport is a key focus of Vision 2030 with PFL and MMA now among the sports events that are being hosted in the kingdom. How happy are you to contribute to this vision and why?

I’m very happy that we’re able to be part of this vision. MMA, as many of you know, is the fastest-growing sport in the world, and the Middle East – Saudi Arabia in particular – is an emerging global sports capital, so we’re excited that we’re able to bring the sport of MMA, and our brand to be specific, to the Middle East. If you look at the last few years, the kingdom has hosted some of the biggest sporting events in the world, not just combat sports but also soccer, motorsports, and tennis, so we’re happy that we’ll be making our mark in Saudi with PFL versus Bellator Champions, which is already the biggest MMA event of the year.

How important is the partnership with SRJ, which is owned by PIF and what do you hope to achieve through this?

At the grassroots, amateur, and professional levels, there is a growing pool of fighters seeking outlets and opportunities to compete on a major stage. Based on the consumer market and the talent supply, we believe it is time to allocate more resources to develop the sport, including the development of fighters.

Our strategic partnership with SRJ Sports is a significant part of these exciting developments. We will be hosting major global events in the region throughout the year, in addition to regional events and competitions.

The Middle East is unquestionably a top region, a top priority, and a market where we will establish a regional league, PFL MENA. I’m truly excited because our expansion isn’t just about sports; it’s about nurturing talent, promoting competition, and uniting fans throughout the Middle East.

How do you see the MMA ecosystem in Saudi and the region compared to other countries in the world? How will PFL help accelerate the MMA ecosystem globally and regionally?

What’s amazing about the MMA scene in the Middle East is that the fans are some of the most passionate in the world, hence the continuous demand of wanting to bring events to places like Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

What we want to be able to do is, by bringing the PFL and MMA to the Middle East, we’re able to help grow the sport in the region in terms of popularity, in terms of engagement, and in terms of producing talent.

We believe that The Middle East is an untapped resource when it comes to MMA talent, and what we aim to do, with PFL MENA and hopefully with the PFL Regular Season down the line is to be able to put the spotlight on Middle Eastern talent and carve out a path where they can shine and showcase their talents on the global stage.

We already have athletes such as Jarrah Al-Silawi, Abdullah Al-Qahtani, and most recently, we made history by signing Hattan Al-Saif to an MMA contract. What we want to do is hopefully find more or develop more Middle Eastern MMA stars. We’d love to say we found the first MMA world champion from the Middle East.

What are the plans for PFL and what goals do you want to achieve in the next five to 10 years?

We want to continue to be at the top of the MMA industry, but more than that, we want to be able to even widen our global reach. We’ve stated this before, but what we want to do is we want to be able to become the “Champions League” of MMA, and we’re doing that by launching our regional leagues like PFL Europe, and PFL Africa, and incorporating brands such as Bellator into the fold.

We want the best of the best from all over the world to be competing in the million-dollar regular season.