Professional Fighters League CEO John Martin believes the
promotion needs to focus on brand building.
While the PFL is arguably the second-biggest MMA promotion in the
world, it remains well behind industry leader
UFC in terms of popularity. Martin believes the focus of the
PFL has shifted multiple times since its inception in 2017,
hindering its growth as a brand. Martin notes that the acquisition
of Bellator in 2023 also came with a lot of issues.
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Martin, who joined as the CEO of PFL last year, believes the
promotion is more important than individual fighters. Martin is now
trying to build the brand of PFL.
Brand Over Everything
“The PFL’s seven years old,” Martin told Home of Fight. “But within that seven years,
the focus and emphasis of the PFL has changed many number of times.
There was a world tournament. Then they bought Bellator, where
there were fighters that weren’t suited to fight in a world
tournament, There were some problems with the integration of
Bellator. The roster was too big, the fighters weren’t fighting
often enough, they had to cut the roster. All of that happened
before I got here. All of that holds back the power of the brand.
People ask me all the time, ‘What’s more important? The brand UFC
or the individual fighters? I think it’s the brand.”
Martin further admitted that distribution in the U.S. has also been
an issue for the PFL. While the PFL and the UFC both used to be
broadcast on ESPN, Martin wonders if many knew about the
PFL.