The PFL point system was designed to reward both fast KO’s and subs and finishes in general in the regular season.
At a glance of PFL results in their regular season there seems to be no higher rate of KO’s or subs or faster KO’s and subs than one would find in UFC, Bellator, etc… in any given weight class.
The classic 16-man MMA tournament was never broke so it didn’t need to be fixed.
Clearly UFC is not perfect but the UFC’s system of awarding bonuses for FOTN, KOTN and SOTN or POTN was never broke and a retarded point system was never gonna fix it.
The scoring system encourages finishes, it does not prioritize them. There is a huge difference. You can finish guys all you want but unless you win more fights than the guy who wins every fight by decision, it won’t matter. A few bonus points isn’t going to change that much. As we’ve seen, the vast majority of “big” fights in the PFL have been boring decisions.
Even if there is show money, something like 75/25 is WAY better than a 50/50 split. Getting half of your pay is just fucking stupid and is only accepted cause that’s how it has always been. I guarantee you we see more finishes even with a more favorable split. That would pay off in the long run for orgs, as it would draw more eyes, because guys won’t be as terrified to lose half their pay. But nah fuck it, let’s leave it the way it is, who cares.
PFL was great pre covid. Then they took that year off and came back with less guys, no one night tournament to get into the finals, and moved the finals from New Years Eve to like November. They lost my interest completely. Haven’t watched since.
Maybe other sports should switch, perhaps we’re wrong.
Would solve a lot of lazy player and rest issues! Pay guys half their salary and the rest is earned through wins. Imagine. LeBron James might magically start playing 82 games a year with no more mid season paid vacations.
Plus those guys have therapists, doctors, and whoever the fuck else working around the clock to make sure their bodies are working at optimum level. When they are injured, they have people working with them daily to make sure they are on track.
I’d venture a guess that so few MMA fighters have had those benefits, that it’s not even worth mentioning.
Does that finish rate being just slightly elevated justify a bad system though?
You really can’t compare the PFL finish rate as apples to apples with UFC though. PFL does not have a men’s FLW and BW division that would lower the finish rate. PFL also does not have the women’s SW, FLW and BW divisions like UFC that also have lower finishing rates than the average division.
So the 2023 Finish Rate by Promotion graph is not comparing finishing rates under equal conditions beyond the point system of PFL and bonus structure of UFC.
I bet if you eliminate UFC’s data from the FLW, BW, WSW, WFLW and WBW divisions and MW as well since PFL does not have that you will see that UFC has a higher finishing rate than PFL when comparing them based on divisions they both have.
Under the PFL system the third best fighter can get a first round finish over the worst fighter and then get a draw vs the second weakest fighter and he has earned himself 7 points total.
Meanwhile the best fighter can win a decision over the second best fighter and then get a draw vs the fourth best fighter and he has earned 4 points. He could also earn the 3 for the decision vs the second best and then be too injured to compete in the second season fight and thus only have 3 points and not qualify for the tournament that way.
So the 3rd best fighter can advance to the tourny and win it because he got the easiest fight in the first round and the best fighter can not even make the tournament because he had to fighter the 2nd best fighter right away.
A FOTN draw vs the best fighter in the PFL regular season will earn you 1 point while a quick finish of the worst fighter in the PFL regular season will earn you 6 points. That is a horrible system.
When Ben Egli was 0-0 in PFL he was fighting 13-1 in PFL, Magomed Magomedkerimov who is the greatest fighter in PFL history.
LeBron James might magically start playing 82 games a year with no more mid season paid vacations.