PFL co-owner Donn Davis claims the fighters airing grievances about their treatment in the wake of the Bellator acquisition do not represent the majority.
After PFL acquired the Bellator brand in December, a steady stream of complaints from some of its fighters became public. The most notable and vocal is former Bellator champion Gegard Mousasi, who said the PFL brass have cut communication with his team under what he believes is the intention to not honor the terms of his Bellator contract.
Former multi-time Bellator titleholder Douglas Lima has offered similar frustrations, and current Bellator womenâs featherweight champ Cris Cyborg has been consistently pushing to cage back in the cage as soon as possible against Larissa Pacheco, the two-time PFL womenâs featherweight season winner, who has also spoke out on social media.
Davis said he understood when PFL overtook Bellatorâs operations there would be some unforeseen issues, though he âexpected more hiccupsâ in the process. He made it clear heâs pleased with where things stand overall with both PFL and Bellator, and added he is actively working to resolve any outstanding issues with athletes.
âOccasionally weâll have a fighter grumble,â Davis said on the âWeighing Inâ podcast with John McCarthy and Josh Thomson. âItâs one of 205 (fighters we acquired from Bellator). You expect five to 10 percent issues on any deal. You canât be perfect. You can be 90 to 95 percent. Weâve had a handful of people say, âOh, I wish it went this way, I wish it went that way.â Iâm delighted. Iâm very, very proud of how we treated our fighters. How we treat our employees. Most of all, the product. We just completed our second (Bellator show) in Paris, which was awesome. We didnât sit on this for six months. We didnât take a year off. We didnât lay off 100 fighters. All the stuff that always happens in all acquisitions. So I just could not be more proud.
âIâll say two things: One, what Iâm super proud of is the market, and anyone you talk to â fighters, business partners, media, mangers â weâre direct, fair and reasonable. 100 percent. Thatâs my 35 years in business. Thatâs the culture weâve built here. So I will say, without commenting out of respect on individual negotiations and specifics situations â weâre direct, fair and reasonable with everybody that we deal with. Will everybodyâs contract be honored? Of course. Do some people have different ideas of what works and what doesnât work? Sure. But weâre fair and reasonable with everybody. Will all 205 fighters (from Bellator) have everything fall the way they want? No.â
In addition to the complaints around activity, Bellator veteran in Sabah Homasi claims he has unpaid medical bills stemming from treatments for an injury sustained in a Bellator fight. Itâs typically the onus of the promoter to reimburse fighters under those circumstances. Homasi said heâs owed money, with UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier spotlighting his issue.
Davis said those situations boil down to the timing of the Bellator deal. He said itâs the responsibility of previous ownership to pay those bills, and his lawyers are currently working to ensure everything is buttoned up.
âThat was Paramount not paying,â Davis said. âWe worked to get him paid. All happened before we bought it. Weâre trying to stay low-key because thatâs who we are. Paramount didnât pay. Weâre working to get somebody who owes him to pay him. A lot of these fighters and managers donât even understand what they donât understand. Those arenât our bills. Those are the old companyâs bills.â
Regardless of public skepticism seemingly growing about Bellatorâs operations behind the scenes, Davis is bullish on the prosperous future of the brand, and reminded that the fallout of the deal is still fresh as he navigates the path forward.
âThe acquisition of Bellator did not close until December,â Davis said. âWe had a reimagined product with a full schedule and fighters with two fights for the year by February. Thatâs unheard of. Iâve done dozens of acquisitions that were either sold or bought, and Iâve never seen it. Iâm super proud of the PFL team. Weâre a small company. We have 62 total employees and this year weâll do 30 events on four continents, having acquired a company with 205 fighters, and weâre getting everybody two fights on highly produced, premium stuff on four continents.
âIâm not blowing smoke with you guys: I am shocked. Not surprised. Shocked is after surprised, that we were able to give 96, 97, 98 percent of fighters two fights this year, given we closed this deal in December.â
After wins in UFC and Bellator, Lorenz Larkin is batting for MMAâs triple crown.
Larkin (25-8) will make his PFL debut June 28 at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., the promotion announced Wednesday. At 2024 PFL 6, Larkin will face Alan Dominguez (11-6) in a three-round welterweight showcase bout.
Despite sparse bookings since his UFC departure in 2016, Larkin has largely found consistent results in recent years. Larkin, 37, is 7-1 with one no contest across his most recent nine fights. He most recently competed in July when he lost for the first time in nearly six years when he dropped a split decision to former Bellator welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov.
Dominguez, 27, may not hold an eye-popping win-loss record, but heâs found great success in recent years. He enters PFL as the Lux Fight League welterweight champion on a three-fight winning streak. Dominguez is 5-1 in his most recent six.
With the addition, the 2024 PFL 6 lineup includes:
- Brendan Loughnane vs. Justin Gonzales
- Logan Storley vs. Laureano Staropoli
- Magomed Umalatov vs. Brennan Ward
- Gabriel Braga vs. Bubba Jenkins
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- Murad Ramazanov vs. Shamil Musaev
- Timur Khizriev vs. Enrique Barzola
- Goiti Yamauchi vs. Andrey Koreshkov
- Kai Kamaka vs. Pedro Carvalho
- Don Madge vs. Neiman Gracie
- Adam Borics vs. Brett Johns
- Zach Juusola vs. Luca Poclit
- Jordan Oliver vs. Isaiah Hokit
âWe havenât lost a signing, period," Davis said on Weighing In. "So why do fighters wanna come here? We get to them earlier, we offer them more control, we offer them more flexibility. Weâre winningâŠFighters donât wanna be [in the UFC], fighters arenât signing there. And if fighters are free to leave there, weâd have more of âem.â
The PFL did have a busy 2023 where it signed major names such as Jake Paul and Francis Ngannou, and while neither of those men have stepped into the SmartCage as of yet former GLORY kickboxing champion Cédric Doumbé has become already become a star for the promotion and recently scored a win in the co-main event of Bellator Champions Series: Paris.
Davisâ statement about signing top talent encouraged McCarthy to ask about Harrisonâs exit, and the PFL Founder elected to answer the question by making an interesting comparison to NBA stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
The PFL has announced the release of former Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi following a contractual dispute turned public.
One day after Mousasi (49-9-2) called the promotion âthe worst organizationâ and threatened legal action in an interview with âThe MMA Hour,â PFL Head of Fighter Operations Mike Kogan released a statement on social media announcing the roster move.
âBellator has released Gegard Mousasi from his agreement,â Kogan wrote. âWe wish him all the best fighting in his next chapter.â
While Mousasi has yet to comment publicly on the situation, his manager Nima Safapour, of Moments Management, referred to the release as âallegedâ and disputed PFLâs âfighter firstâ mantra.
âWe will not comment on the merits of the alleged release at this time for obvious reasons,â Safapour said in a written statement provided to MMA Junkie. âHowever, we believe there is a greater lesson here that our community should pay close attention to. For an organization that repeatedly claims to be âfighter first,â we now truly see how PFL treats their fighters, especially their legends.â
Given where everything else isâŠI like what UFC offers these days.
PFL does not need to run two brandsâŠneither one is very popular.
MMA outside of UFC and PRIDE peaked with Strikeforce and DREAM. The rest, Bellator, PFL, ONE, RIZIN, KSW, ACA etc⊠just canât come close to replicating what they had.
PFL just has a terrible, plastic and stale feel to it. Its not just that terrible point system, they just doinât have âitâ.
Remember the Mighty Mouse-Askren trade? Dana should see if PFL will take Belal for Magomedkerimov.
Thatâs quite stacked to be fair
PFL is a clown show⊠but they have been putting on some banger cards lately that fly under the radar. Still donât think they will last as a company though. Their two biggest signings in Paul and Francis are never even gonna fight for them, and the Bellator purchase made zero sense. Iâm rooting for them but have very little confidence in PFL management and their dumbass format. Mistake after mistakeâŠ