Professional Fighters League CEO Peter Murray believes the
inaugural PFL-Bellator card will be a monumental event to kick off
a stacked 2024 — including pay-per-view powerhouses and aggressive
expansion — for the promotion.
At the first PFL-Bellator press conference on Wednesday at Hard
Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, Murray spoke on PFL’s plans to
host an annual PFL-Bellator card and plans to re-imagine the
Bellator
brand with the Bellator International Champions Series.
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“[Bellator’s] a beloved brand of MMA,” Murray said to a collection
of reporters. “We have an opportunity to re-imagine the Bellator
brand, support these great fighters and the property fits into our
portfolio.”
The
PFL vs. Bellator card takes place on Feb. 24 at Boulevard Hall
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Bellator champions Johnny
Eblen, Ryan Bader,
Jason
Jackson and Patricio
Freire are defending their promotion’s honor against the likes
of PFL’s season champions such as Impa
Kasanganay and Jesus
Pinedo, with stars from both sides sprinkled in between.
While each promotion comes in hoping to dominate the other, the
card has become a glimpse into the future of PFL and the heights it
can reach with its significantly stronger roster.
To keep things organized, Murray explained that PFL events can be
categorized one of three ways: megafights with stars like Francis
Ngannou that would qualify for pay-per-view events, the
traditional PFL season format, and cards that fall under the
Bellator International Championship Series.
“This roster overall across each of these franchises, pay-per-view
fighters, global season fighters, and then Bellator fighters in the
champions series, the roster is really second to none, and it’s on.
We’re not stopping here,” Murray said.
For Bellator stars like bantamweight champion Patrick Mix
or lightweight champion Usman
Nurmagomedov, this platform would allow them to defend their
belts as they would in the traditional Bellator format.
In the next two years, PFL hopes to grow its regional scene as well
by expanding into six different international leagues. PFL launched
PFL Europe in 2023 and is set to launch PFL MENA in the Middle East
later this year.
With 30 planned events marked out, 2024 could be the most expansive
year yet for PFL, and Murray says the PFL-Bellator megacard is just
the tip of the iceberg.
“KSA [Saudi Arabia] has become the fight capital of the world
candidly and we’re in the mix,” Murray said. “This is not going to
be a one-off event.”