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Professional Fighters League (PFL) recently suspended its 2020 season as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which has most states on lockdown with executive orders prohibiting the staging of live events, including but not limited to mixed martial arts (MMA) fights.
And unlike Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which can afford to rent its own private island and ship its traveling circus to the loosey-goosey state of Florida, PFL has limited options geographically and is further handicapped by its season-based format.
That’s why the promotion was forced to release a portion of its roster, a decision detailed below in bland, impersonal Emails obtained by MMA Fighting. No distinction was made between fighters who were released and fighters who were retained, so there’s little insight into how talent was selected.
The first Email for terminated fighters.
This note is to update you on the status of the 2020 PFL season.
Like all major sports leagues, the Professional Fighters League has been closely monitoring the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been in regular communication with government health authorities, athletic commissions, business partners, the fight community, and major sports leaders to assess all reasonable scenarios for successfully conducting the PFL 2020 season.
After careful consideration, it is clear that the only option to safely complete a full season is to reschedule the PFL season for next year.
This decision, made together with ESPN, is based on numerous factors, including safeguarding the health of the fighters, fans, partners, and event personnel and preserving the integrity of the PFL full sport-season format.
We therefore are providing this notice pursuant to Section 17.3 and/or 17.4 of your Exclusive Promotional Fight Agreement with the PFL that your agreement is terminated and you are formally released to compete elsewhere effective immediately.
We hope that you and your family remain safe and healthy and wish you the best of luck.
Sincerely,
Ray Sefo
The second Email distributed to protected athletes:
This note is to update you on the status of the 2020 PFL season.
PFL has worked with our media partner ESPN to reschedule the upcoming 2020 Season for Spring 2021, as discussed in the attached press statement.
Like all major sports leagues, the Professional Fighters League has been closely monitoring the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been in regular communication with government health authorities, athletic commissions, business partners, the fight community, and major sports leaders to assess all reasonable scenarios for successfully conducting the PFL 2020 season.
After careful consideration, it is clear that the only option to safely complete a full season is to reschedule the PFL season for next year. This decision, made together with ESPN, is based on numerous factors, including safeguarding the health of the fighters, fans, partners, and event personnel and preserving the integrity of the PFL full sport-season format.
We therefore are providing this notice of force majeure under your Exclusive Promotional Fight Agreement with the PFL to postpone the next Full Season to be rescheduled to start in Spring 2021.
To help support our fighters in these extraordinary times, PFL has set up a program to pay each fighter a monthly cash stipend for the second half of 2020.
This monthly cash payment is a bonus from PFL to fighters and will not need to be repaid or deducted from any future pay. You will receive details about your monthly cash stipend later this week.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Ray Sefo or Jim Bramson.
Our thoughts continue to be with all those impacted by COVID-19. We hope that you and your families remain safe and healthy. PFL strives to be a positive influence as we continue to evolve and grow the sport of MMA, and we look forward to emerging together stronger.
Sincerely,
Ray Sefo
The amount of the monthly stipend has not been disclosed; however, early reports suggest the number is somewhere in the $1000 range. As for the fighters who were let go, they should expect to have limited options, as Bellator MMA and ONE Championship are also inactive until further notice.