Professional Fighters League founder Donn Davis has revealed the organization is reaching significant viewership milestones as it continues to expand its global presence.
“We’re averaging 500,000 viewers per fight, but we want to continue to be able to grow,” Davis said in an interview with Sportico, highlighting the league’s growing audience base since its establishment in 2018.
PFL does not have the same mainstream appeal, roster strength, or brand recognition as the UFC whose APEX cards are estimated to be having around the same viewership. It is highly unlikely that a secondary promotion, with a much smaller fan base and fewer marquee stars, is achieving similar viewership figures.
A longtime brand PFL acquired – Bellator – would at times be doing these numbers on the mainstream media platform in years past.
This isn’t the first time PFL has made bold claims about its success. In the past, the organization has boasted about high engagement and audience growth, yet failed to translate that into consistent pay-per-view buys or significant mainstream media coverage.
Davis mentioned that “90% of PFL’s audience resides outside the United States,” which raises further questions. International viewership metrics are notoriously difficult to quantify, especially with streaming platforms, social media clips, and regional broadcasts involved. Unlike traditional TV ratings, digital viewership can be inflated through multiple factors, including repeated views, autoplay videos, and engagement from bot-driven traffic.
The 62-year-old entrepreneur, who founded PFL after a successful career in venture capital, has implemented strategic changes to enhance the league’s appeal. This year, the season format has been streamlined from eight months to approximately five months, adopting a single-elimination structure across eight weight categories.
“We haven’t changed the win-and-advance meritocracy. We just made it simpler and shorter,” Davis explained.
The organization has been expanding internationally through regional circuits, acknowledging that 90% of its audience resides outside the United States. PFL currently operates in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and plans to launch in Australia next year.
Davis outlined the progression pathway: “PFL Europe, PFL Africa, PFL Australia. You start locally, you win, you get exposure, you make money, you move up to global.”
Looking ahead, Davis sees a shifting landscape in professional sports. “What I saw seven years ago was a fundamental change of opportunity in sport,” he said, citing streaming, evolving younger audience preferences, and sports globalization as key factors.
He predicts a significant transformation in traditional sports hierarchies: “The big four North America sports leagues ain’t gonna be the big four anymore. Ten years out, 20 years out, it’s going to be the NFL, the NBA, Premier League and MMA.”
Before establishing PFL, Davis co-founded Revolution investment firm with billionaire Steve Case in 2005, where he managed growth funds and invested in successful ventures including DraftKings, Sportradar, and Zipcar. His earlier career included roles as a lawyer for the Chicago Cubs and as a top executive at AOL Time Warner.
