Donn Davis, the founder of the PFL, says their recent pay-per-view event Battle of the Giants, featuring Francis Ngannou, had more viewers than any UFC event this year.
Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira
The event took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, featuring popular fighters such as Francis Ngannou and Cris Cyborg. It was highly anticipated because it included championship fights. Ngannou is a former UFC champion and blockbuster professional boxer. Cris Cyborg is a former division champion in Strikeforce, Invicta, the UFC, and Bellator; and now she can add PFL to her trophy cabinet.
In an interview with Mike Heck, Davis mentioned that the event met their goals for viewership, sharing that their research showed it outperformed all UFC events of 2024. He compared the event’s viewership to a major boxing match, saying it reached impressive global numbers. He said:
“I can’t answer the first question (how many PPV buys?). The second question (did it meet projected goals?), yes it did. I actually made a post an hour ago…we actually provided eight viewership goals that we put out. Almost everything on this event, I put out one hour ago. What you will see is pretty astounding global audience numbers for this event.
“This event, by our research, beat every viewership number of every UFC event this year, and was very, very close to ‘Ring of Fire’ (Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk)…the biggest boxing event in five years. Overall, the same global viewership metrics of ‘Ring of Fire’. That was really something that was our stretch goal, and that’s what we achieved.” [Ht MMANews]
Donn Davis, on the Francis Ngannou fight, continued:
“Right now, economics flow a very different way. In the sports world, it used to be just PPV buys. But now, money is made many different ways. Sponsorship, social media, host fees; there’s an economical bundle that is very different now. So there’s many metrics that matter.”
While Davis claims strong performance for the PFL event, there’s skepticism about the comparison due to differences in how viewership is measured and reported.