There will be a special guest on hand to award the newly-created
title belts to the winners of the featured bouts at
PFL vs. Bellator.
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PFL Chairman Donn Davis revealed to ESPN that former boxing heavyweight champion
Mike Tyson will present the Champion of Champion title belt at
Saturday’s event in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia.
„I called Mike two weeks ago, because I thought there was nobody
more fitting to award the first ever in combat sports belt that
goes to a champion beating a champion than the greatest champion of
all time in Mike Tyson,“ Davis said.
The championship hardware will go to the winner of the evening’s
headliner, Renan
Ferreira vs. Ryan Bader,
as well as Impa
Kasanganay vs. Johnny
Eblen and Patricio
Freire vs. Gabriel
Braga. The event marks the first cross-promotional venture for
both organizations since PFL acquired Bellator last year.
„I’m really looking forward to this because this is the unification
of the two champions of different divisions and different
organizations,“ Tyson told ESPN.
The Champion of Champions belt also includes a place for a ring,
which can be removed and worn by the fighter. The idea for the
championship ring was the brainchild of Davis, PFL CEO Peter Murray
and Francis
Ngannou.
„What we saw was other athletes who won championships could wear
their ring,“ Davis said. „I win the NFL, I get my ring from the
Super Bowl. I win the World Series, I get my ring. And fighters,
they can’t always take their belts out. You can’t just walk around
with your belt.“