Can a Saudi Arabia trillionaire assemble a mega mixed martial arts (MMA) fight?
The 2024 Professional Fighters League (PFL) Championships went down yesterday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and six fighters captured titles. But more importantly, they all received life-changing paydays of $1 million for winning their championship fights.
Check out all of the highlights here.
Before the ESPN+ main card, PFL CEO Peter Murray spoke with talkSPORT and revealed that Saudi Arabia wants to host a potential fight (at this point, a dream fight) between Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Jon Jones and PFL Super Fight champion Francis Ngannou.
“We’re supportive of a [crossover fight]. I mean, the fighters want the fight,” Murray said. “Jon Jones wants the fight, Francis wants the fight, we want the fight, our partners here in Saudi want the fight. It really comes down to if the UFC wants to step up. Period.”
A potential fight between Jones and Ngannou has been discussed and dissected a million times by now—and yes, you all know the answer by now: PFL really wants to make the fight, and the UFC has no interest.
UFC CEO Dana White says he will never work with Ngannou again and considers him a bad guy.
However, White hasn’t said no to Saudi Arabia’s influence. Can the UFC president really close the door to the fight when a country literally has unlimited money?
The media has asked White a couple of times about a Jones vs. Ngannou matchup sponsored by Riyadh season, and he usually changes the subject or gives a “you never know” answer.
The cold, hard truth is that UFC gains nothing from crossing over with PFL, and because of that, the mega fight will more than likely never happen.
BUT, money does talk.
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