Tag: pfl

Donn Davis Causes A Stir By Claiming Bellator Fighters ‘Got Way More Fights’ Than PFL Counterparts In 2024

Donn Davis, founder and chairman of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), continues to dismiss any suggestion that his promotion hasn’t done right by fighters it acquired through the Bellator acquisition. Davis and the PFL have come under heavy scrutiny in recent weeks after a number of fighters went public with their complaints about management. Most […]

Donn Davis, founder and chairman of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), continues to dismiss any suggestion that his promotion hasn’t done right by fighters it acquired through the Bellator acquisition.

Davis and the PFL have come under heavy scrutiny in recent weeks after a number of fighters went public with their complaints about management.

Most notably, champions Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Patchy Mix marked some of the unhappy ex-Bellator stars who were left without their desired number of fights in 2024 — the first full calendar year post-the PFL’s purchase of its rival organization. That led to them even requesting their release from the PFL on social media.

The promotion hasn’t released an official statement, however, and its founder has been largely dismissive of the fighters’ complaints in his recent LinkedIn and X posts.

And after previously insisting he and his colleagues did “the best” they could, Davis’ latest comments have once again failed to take the likes of “Pitbull” and Mix’s thoughts seriously.

Davis wrote on social media Wednesday, claiming that Bellator fighters actually “got way more fights” than PFL athletes in 2024 in spite of the numerous canceled Champions Series cards.

Of course, the addition of context to Davis’ figures does little to help his case.

While plenty of fighters were added to the PFL’s season format, where they competed numerous times, that doesn’t change the fact that Freire, Mix, Danny Sabatello and the like made the walk just once.

It’s hard to imagine those sidelined fighters will be changing their stance on a push for more activity as long as others were handed two or three times more appearances in the cage.

Unsurprisingly, Davis’ latest attempt at pushing away fighter complains did not go down well with the MMA community online — to say the least.

Chael Sonnen Backs Khabib Nurmagomedov On Topic Of Dagestan’s MMA Superiority: ‘It Might Offend You, But…’

Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen doesn’t believe Khabib Nurmagomedov said anything egregious when outlining his region’s dominance over the rest of the world in mixed martial arts. The topic of Dagestani superiority in MMA has risen to the surface ahead of Usman Nurmagomedov’s Bellator lightweight title defense later this month. The cousin of Khabib […]

Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen doesn’t believe Khabib Nurmagomedov said anything egregious when outlining his region’s dominance over the rest of the world in mixed martial arts.

The topic of Dagestani superiority in MMA has risen to the surface ahead of Usman Nurmagomedov’s Bellator lightweight title defense later this month. The cousin of Khabib will put his gold on the line in the United Arab Emirates, headlining the PFL’s Champions Series: Road to Dubai event opposite Paul Hughes.

With the challenger hailing from Ireland, comparisons have been made to “The Eagle’s” bad-blood clash with Conor McGregor in 2018. And when it comes to Dagestan and Ireland colliding, Khabib doesn’t think there’s any debate about which region is in front.

In fact, while outlining that on social media, the former UFC champ went a step further and expressed confidence in a Dagestan team getting the better of a squad from around the world in amateur MMA.

During a video recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sonnen dismissed any suggestion that Khabib’s remarks weren’t accurate.

“The village that Khabib lives in, there’s 2,000 people, there was seven Olympic champions. Seven of them have Olympic gold medals. That is crazy,” Sonnen said. “2,000, that’s how many people I had in my high school. Khabib’s point of bragging about Dagestan, per-capita versus anywhere on Earth, you might not like it, it might offend you, but there’s no way to say he’s wrong.”

While Usman will be hoping to prove his relative correct come fight night on Jan. 15, when “The Eagle” will be in his corner, Hughes has vowed to upset the Dagestani contingent before throwing an ‘I told you so’ comment the way of Khabib.

PFL Announces Major Change To Ruleset For 2025: ‘You Asked For…’

We haven’t been in 2025 for long but the PFL has already announced a major change to the promotion going forward. One of the most talked about criticisms of the action that takes place inside the Smart Cage has been the removal of one of the most dangerous weapons in mixed martial arts. Elbows are […]

We haven’t been in 2025 for long but the PFL has already announced a major change to the promotion going forward. One of the most talked about criticisms of the action that takes place inside the Smart Cage has been the removal of one of the most dangerous weapons in mixed martial arts.

Elbows are an incredibly important weapon in a fighter’s arsenal, especially for grapplers who do their best work when they’re on top of their opponents, raining down strikes. However, due to the promotion’s tournament format, they have not been allowed in the PFL’s ruleset because it makes it more difficult for fighters to make the required turnarounds throughout the season due to the cuts that elbows often open up.

For a long time, fans have argued that whilst this may be the case, they should be given the all clear for elbows in championship fights and in this area, the PFL made a change by allowing this form of striking technique in the 2024 World Championships. Across that event alone, we saw some devastating elbows once they were unlocked with Dakota Ditcheva in particular making the case for why this ruleset should become permanent with her ruthless display against Taila Santos.

The promotion have finally responded to this feedback from the fans and the fighters via a recent social media post from PFL founder Donn Davis who announced that from now, elbows will be allowed in every PFL fight. 2024 may have been a mixed bag for the promotion overall but this is a step in the right direction regarding the product itself.

“New Year … New Adjustments YOU asked for ELBOWS @PFLMMA is giving you elbows! All elbows. All fights. All the time. #PFLMMA 2025 … COMING”

Donn Davis Lists ‘5 Bad Things’ That Happened To PFL In 2024: ‘Bellator Star Fighters Complained…’

The PFL had some major highlights throughout 2024 from the debut of Francis Ngannou to the rise of one of the promotion’s new focal points, Dakota Ditcheva. However, the year also provided them with some difficult challenges, some of which are yet to be dealt with now that 2025 is underway. PFL founder Donn Davis […]

The PFL had some major highlights throughout 2024 from the debut of Francis Ngannou to the rise of one of the promotion’s new focal points, Dakota Ditcheva. However, the year also provided them with some difficult challenges, some of which are yet to be dealt with now that 2025 is underway.

PFL founder Donn Davis spoke about this in a recent post on LinkedIn which has attracted the wrong kind of attention. In an effort to show the other side to what most business owners put out there on social media, Davis listed “5 bad things that happened to PFL in 2024.”

The majority of the post references things that happened behind the scenes which fight fans wouldn’t have known about as Davis talks through some of the issues that they have experienced that come with running a company of this scale. He reveals how throughout 2024, they have had to battle potential investors wasting their time, an advertiser deal breaking down, the costs of international expansion into new regions and a delay in the promotion’s plans which was caused by one of their partners.

It is the third entry in the list that is particularly of note as unlike the other problems, this one has taken place in the public eye. The PFL’s acquisition of Bellator has certainly led to the promotion having a better product overall when it comes to the talent on their roster but keeping everyone busy and happy has been a major issue with several big names openly voicing their issues with the way that they have been treated.

Davis made reference to this in his post where he appeared to criticize these fighters for making claims which have damaged the promotion’s public perception.

“Some Bellator star fighters complained on social media about not fighting, making PFL look like not meet our contracts.”

Ireland’s Paul Hughes Plans To Tell Khabib ‘I Told You So’ After Beating Dagestan’s Usman Nurmagomedov

PFL star Paul Hughes is excited for Khabib Nurmagomedov to have a cageside view to his recent claim about Ireland being proved emphatically wrong later this month. Khabib, a former UFC lightweight champion, has put considerable time into coaching since ending his career as a 29-0 professional. And after cornering Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov […]

PFL star Paul Hughes is excited for Khabib Nurmagomedov to have a cageside view to his recent claim about Ireland being proved emphatically wrong later this month.

Khabib, a former UFC lightweight champion, has put considerable time into coaching since ending his career as a 29-0 professional. And after cornering Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov in Los Angeles on Jan. 18, “The Eagle” will head to Dubai for Usman Nurmagomedov’s Bellator title defense.

Ahead of the PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai event on Jan. 25, the Dagestani has been doing some promotional work on social media by claiming his region’s superiority over that of his cousin’s opponent, Ireland’s Hughes.

During a recent interview with BBC Sport NI, Hughes recalled his first time seeing Khabib suggest that Ireland ‘doesn’t have fighters’, a remark that brought back memories of his crushing triumph over Conor McGregor in 2018.

The 27-year-old expects to prove the UFC legend wrong come fight night in Dubai, and he’s got some words ready to tell “The Eagle” in the aftermath.

“I was out with a friend, and I saw it and thought, ‘I don’t really care.’ It’s just fight stuff but it’s good for marketing, it’s good he’s doing that, but I don’t really care,” Hughes said. “I respect him as a fighter, but I don’t care what his opinion is.

“Knowing he’ll be in Usman’s corner, I think when I win, I’ll be like, ‘I told you so,’ and that will be pleasurable but that is the competitor in me,” Hughes added.

Hughes has also reacted plenty of times on social media, first telling Khabib that McGregor ‘made him famous’, before most recently taking a dig at Usman’s failed drug test in 2023.

Cris Cyborg Issues Scathing Response to Claressa Shields’ Rebuke – MMA Vs. Boxing

Cris Cyborg Issues Scathing Response to Claressa Shields' RebukeThe war of words between MMA legend Cris Cyborg and boxing great Claressa Shields has reached a boiling point,…

Cris Cyborg Issues Scathing Response to Claressa Shields' Rebuke

The war of words between MMA legend Cris Cyborg and boxing great Claressa Shields has reached a boiling point, with both fighters exchanging heated challenges and personal digs. Both fighters are interested in a fight but cannot agree on a weight or rule set. Boxing or MMA?

Cris Cyborg vs. Claressa Shields

The tension erupted after Shields declared, “I would f*ck her up in a street fight,” during a recent interview.

Cyborg, not one to back down, responded on social media: “Someone tell ‘The GWOAT’ we are both signed to the same MMA promoter. Just sign the PFL contract.”

This shows the growing animosity between the two combat sports icons.

The Cris Cyborg vs. Claressa Shields rivalry has been simmering for years, dating back to a sparring session in 2017. Shields has often claimed she outperformed Cyborg during the session. Using it to dismiss the MMA fighter’s recent callouts as mere attention-seeking. Cyborg, however, has accused Claressa Shields of fighting inexperienced opponents in her MMA appearances and avoiding legitimate challenges.

Claressa SHields

Cyborg has publicly offered to face Shields in both MMA and boxing but insists on fair terms, including weight adjustments. Shields has remained firm in rejecting an MMA bout, citing Cyborg’s extensive experience in the cage. Instead, she prefers a boxing match, which she believes would offer a more level playing field. Cris Cyborg has wins in MMA, Kickboxing, and professional boxing. Shields is highly experienced in boxing but has had only some fights in MMA with the PFL.

cris cyborg1

Cris Cyborg is widely regarded as one of the greatest female mixed martial artists of all time having achieved an unparalleled feat: winning world championships in five major MMA promotions—Strikeforce, Invicta FC, UFC, Bellator, and the PFL.

Claressa Shields, on the other hand, has cemented her legacy in boxing. A two-time Olympic gold medalist and the first woman to become undisputed champion in multiple weight classes, Shields boasts an unblemished professional record. Her achievements have earned her accolades as one of the best pound-for-pound female boxers in history.

Claressa Shields Heavyweight

The ongoing feud has left fans speculating about whether the rivalry will culminate in an actual fight. With both fighters signed to the PFL, a clash in MMA seems feasible—if Shields agrees to step into the cage. A boxing match, however, remains the more likely scenario given her reluctance to face Cyborg under MMA rules.

For now, the verbal sparring continues, keeping fans entertained and hopeful for a blockbuster crossover bout in 2025. Whether the fight materializes remains to be seen.

cris cyborg