A few months after acquiring Bellator MMA in a landmark deal, Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced its plan for the promotion once owned by Viacom and ran by longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter, Scott Coker.
Via a press release, the promotion revealed the launch of the Bellator Champions Series, which is set to kick off with Bellator 302 on March 22, 2024 and will be headlined by Light Heavyweight title fight as Corey Anderson and Karl Moore square off for the vacant strap.
Bellator Champions Series will consist of eight star-studded global events across Europe and the United States of America, and will feature at least one title fight per event. Furthermore, all events will now stream on DAZN.
“After the landmark acquisition of Bellator, the Professional Fighters League is excited to officially announce a new era of MMA with the launch of the ‘Bellator Champions Series’ global franchise,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray. “The Bellator Champions Series” will feature reigning Bellator Champion fighters defending their titles against the best fighters in the world from the start studded Bellator roster. Fans will have access to the best competition and the most innovate formats in MMA distributed by leaders in sport including DAZN.”
PFL will still operate as a separate entity with its ever-popular season format. That said, the best from PFL and Bellator will still have the opportunity to test themselves against one another in a champion vs. champion mega event, with the first such card taking place on Feb. 24, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Bellator 302 will be co-headlined by a women’s Featherweight rematch between Leah McCourt and Sinead Kavanagh. The two talented ladies initially faced off at Bellator 275 in Feb. 2022, which resulted in a unanimous decision win for Kavanagh. McCourt has gone 2-1 since that defeat and was hoping to secure a title fight against Cris Cyborg following her technical knockout (TKO) win over Sara McMann at Bellator 300, but the acquisition changed all those plans.
Meanwhile, Bellator’s 145-pound champion, Cris Cyborg, still can’t get a fight.
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