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When it comes to Saudi money and combat sports, it’s interesting to see what becomes the subject once money is no longer an object.
This time it’s the announcement of the vaunted supercard between MMA’s number 2 promotion (by default), PFL, and the promotion they recently acquired, Bellator. Scheduled for February 24th at the same arena in Riyadh that hosted Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou this past October, PFL is staging its biggest event to date, one that pitts many of their most recent season champions against the respective Bellator titleholders. Donn Davis is taking the biggest shot possible to prove to the world that his claim of being an MMA “co-leader” wasn’t just some mindless PR posturing that served no purpose other than to manufacture headlines.
It’s also a big opportunity for the world’s number 2 to do that exact number in their pants on the biggest stage they’ve ever been invited to dance (or rap) on.
PFL is putting their best foot forward (to try to not step in anything)
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good looking card. Bellator stalwarts like Ryan Bader, Patricio Pitbull, Vadim Nemkov, and Johnny Eblen feature opposite a PFL cast that includes Clay Collard, Magomed Magomedkerimov, Renan Ferreira, and Bruno Cappelozza.
PFL is giving a little something to everyone on this card. For the jaded UFC fan desperate for something different yet still familiar, there’s Thiago Santos vs. Yoel Romero, a fight you wouldn’t be wrong for thinking must have happened back in 2018.
And for boxing fans, there’s Claressa Shields’ next opportunity to supplement her income even though she’s one of the best boxers in the world.
It’s a great lineup, an assemblage of as many top names that could be gathered without requiring Dana White’s permission first. It’s the result of a fever dream so intense someone must have thought they were staring at Jon Jones when, in actuality, it was just Impa Kasaganay.
PFL is doing what UFC can’t (or won’t)
This event honestly beats the hell out of a lot of the upcoming cards UFC is giving us. I’ll take Jesus Pinedo and AJ McKee over the deluge of Apex cards (Dolidze vs. Imavov, Hermansson vs. Pyfer, Tuivasa vs. Tybura) any day.
It’s certainly better than UFC’s first attempt at a show in Saudi Arabia, which was supposed to happen March 2. That is, until the Saudis nixed it because they wanted something that would be more “entertaining.”
Which is ridiculous. How could they think that fights like Muhammad Mokaev vs. Alex Perez or Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett wouldn’t be entertaining enough to headline a fight card? How could the Saudis not want to see Jairzinho Rozenstruik in action? He’s the best heavyweight prospect of 4 years ago!
Seriously, ARE THEY NOT ENTERTAINED?
They’re not? Oh. Well, then try again in the summer, I guess. Maybe UFC will luck out and they’ll find a reason to pull Conor McGregor from International Fight Week and slot him in. Or maybe they’ll find a spare BMF title fight lying around somewhere…
PFL said in their press release that they want to make the fights the fans want and, for at least one event, they’ll be able to do that (well, almost). Beyond that though? They better have some idea of how to make this Bellator coexistence work or they’re going to end up looking hopeless and irrelevant.
The card is super but hardly seems fair
I mean, look at the two sides of the card. It’s clear that the bigger names are within the Bellator ranks. Bellator, for all its flaws, has done a much better job of developing and marketing the fighters on their roster. They’re the clear A-Side of this record. They’re the cool kid on the block while PFL is the spoiled child who wants all the attention and is trying to get it by waving around the money their rich uncle gave them for their birthday.
How is it going to look if the Bellator fighters win all or most of the fights on the supercard? This isn’t the first time Bellator has been featured in such a fashion, as they went to Japan on New Years last year and dominated Rizin. Bellator made the sequel to Pride look like a joke (sequels are never as good as the original…). If PFL isn’t careful, they’ll become the next target of the MMA world’s laughter and derision.
There’s more than just a couple of Super Fight Championships on the line here. The company’s credibility is at stake. How will anybody be able to take them seriously in the future if they can’t position themselves to look like the winners of their own acquisition? I’m assuming they would have gotten Ngannou for this card if he wasn’t already preparing to box Anthony Joshua in Riyadh two weeks after.
It’s bad enough PFL didn’t schedule this supercard to happen the same weekend that another sporting event of super proportions will be taking place (I swear I only watch for the commercials and the slappity slap). Now they might be getting trounced by the very spoils of their conquest. This could be quite the InVasion indeed…
Seriously, what’s the rush?
Personally, I would have held off on doing the PFL/Bellator event, especially if the plan is to continue running Bellator as a separate entity. I get that it’s likely being done to satisfy whatever existing television deals the company still has but doesn’t the importance of unifying the championships of both promotions get diminished when both promotions will still be operating the next day and every other day for the foreseeable future? Sure seems like it does to me.
Then again, it’s possible that could have been the plan if not for the fact that Saudi Arabia is throwing a lot of money at PFL in exchange for big events, necessitating the need to use the Bellator acquisition as the jump start to their Super Fight series, one that will serve the purpose of providing (almost) all of the fights the fans really want to see while PFL continues to air a league format that no one is watching and international events that make us wish we got to see those on ESPN+ instead.
February 24th has been circled as the biggest date on PFL’s calendar. It will be their coming-out party, the chance for them to face what could be the biggest audience they’ve ever garnered to state their claim that they are here to stay and they are ready to play with the big boys. They need to present a united front that says PFL and Bellator are stronger together and that they can forge a path that will get everyone to the mountaintop.
If they can’t do that, then the world will get to watch as they free fall into the graveyard of a dozen other companies that have been put down by the industry leader.
Either way, it will be fun to see them try. It’s not like UFC will have anything to counter their event with anyway, right?
…what’s that? Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval rematching in Mexico City? Yair Rodriguez vs. Brian Ortega? A bunch of names too inconsequential to have Wikipedia pages that have been booked to pander to the local audience?
Well played, UFC. Well played.
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