All You Need To Know About PFL Championships

Donn Devis founded the Professional Fighters League (PFL). It is the only major MMA league where athletes can compete in different seasons and championships in a year, rather than just once a year. After two years of operation, PFL postponed its competitions for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, PFL is a renowned and significant event in the MMA world.

The PFL league conducts tournaments across six different weight divisions, including light heavyweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, women’s lightweight, and heavyweight. In addition, there is a “Super Fight” division, which is not determined by weight but rather by the competitor’s status and name value.

PFL emerged from the former WSOF league through the MMAX Investment Partners, including Mark Leschly, the head of Washington Nationals, Mark Lerner, Russ Ramsey, Glenn Youngkin, and Ted Leonsis. The restructuring took place in 2018. After the inauguration, Ray Sefo became the president and WSOF CEO Carlos Silva became the sub-president of the league. Sefo, a six-time Muay Thai champion and former MMA fighter, was the best candidate for the position. Peter Murray, a previous National Football League executive, took charge of the PFL Championship as the CEO in January 2018. Two years later in October 2020, PFL introduced a non-fungible token (NFT) and became the first MMA championship to do so. The next year in February 2021, the PFL made headlines after the management announced $65 million fundraising events or financing rounds that helped the organization increase the total funds up to $175 million. In May 2021, PFL got an esteemed member for its athlete advisory board in the form of Ray Lewis, a prominent Hall of the Fame American player. In the same year, Marshawn Lynch and Wix Khalifa became one of the main PFL investors. Rival Games, a games publisher, contracted a partnership with PFL in April 2022. This contract made PFL the first MMA company to have a game publisher on board.

To fight in the PFL league, MMA fighters must create their PFL Accounts, which can be created at the company’s official website, PFLmma.com. No registration charges are applied at the time of account creation. Aspirants can create their accounts by submitting their details. Though it is a simple process, failure to submit correct details may result in disqualification from the PFL. After successful account registration, MMA aspirants can visit the PFL website to log in to their accounts and complete the other prerequisites for the PFL tournaments.

In each PFL season, 72 fighters compete in various weight classes, and the competitions are held in the smart cage. Competitors must adhere to the combined rules of MMA, including those related to elbow striking. The elbow strikes are banned to prevent severe injuries that could lead to delays in the next matches of the season. Primarily, the contestants are selected for the tournament based on their performances.

PFL, unlike other championships, conducts three tournaments throughout the year. Fighters can compete twice in every season, engaging in three-round bouts. Fighters compete for points across a season, winning three points after each win and three bonus scores for a submission. In case of a draw, both fighters will get one point. Finishing the first round allows the winner to get three bonus points, 2nd round finish awards two bonus points, and the third-round submission gives one bonus point. If a fighter overweighs, he will have one point reduced and will not get any points even after the win.

• Win: 3 points
• Loss: 0 points
• Overweight: -1 point

• Round 1: 3 points
• Round 2: 2 points
• Round 3: 1 point

The four contestants who score the maximum points in each division advance to the playoffs. The playoff usually consists of three tournaments. In the semifinals, the top ranked competitor faces the fourth ranked competitors, and the second ranked competitor competes against the third-ranked.  

The two winners of the semifinals (playoffs) in each weight division will face each other in the round 5 bouts. 

Tiebreakers are chosen according to the following measurements:

• Head-to-head
• Winner of the most regular season fights
• Number of submissions
• Minimum time for submission or finish
• Winning percentage
• Maximum time in the cage in case of loss
• Combined decision-based scores
• The least combined decision-based scores of the opponent on the judge’s scoreboard
• Most combined points scored by opponents in all regular season
• Coin toss

In the case of a three-way tie, the rules will be the same, but a random draw will decide one.

The champion of a five-round bout will receive a $1 million prize.

Both PFL and UFC follow the unified rules of MMA. However, PFL differs slightly in that it has banned elbow strikes. Elbow strikes, as dangerous as punches and kicks, tend to cause severe cuts and bleeding, often tearing the skin.

The PFL Challenger Series provides the young and rising fighters with the opportunity to participate in a tournament during the PFL league season, with a chance to win a $1 million prize. In each event of the PFL Challenger Series, one celebrity guest, including featured stars from films, sports, and athletics, joins the panel. The entertainers Jeremy Piven and Wiz Khalifa and NFL stars Ray Lewis and Todd Gurley were among the celebrity guests present at the 2021 event of the PFL Challenger Series.

In 2023, PFL introduced the PFL Europe to showcase the emerging European MMA fighters. On March 25, 2023, the first tournament took place in Newcastle, England. Each event of the PFL will be broadcast throughout Europe during prime local hours.

Philipe Lins competed with Alex Nicholson in the 2018 PFL Championship in the heavyweight division. Lins won the championship.

Sean O’Connell competed with Vinny Magalhaes in the 2018 PFL Championship in the light-heavyweight division. Sean O’Connell won the tournament after the third round by TKO and won a $1 million prize.

Louis Taylor competed with Abus Magomedov in the 2018 PFL Championship in the middleweight division. Taylor won the tournament after just a minute of round one with a KO.

Magomed Magomedkerimov competed with Ray Cooper III in the 2018 PFL Championship in the welterweight division. Magomedkerimov won the championship via guillotine after only 3 minutes in the second round.

Natan Schulte competed with Rashid Magomedov in the 2018 PFL Championship in the lightweight division. Schulte won the fight after five rounds with a unanimous decision and won a $1 million prize. 

Lance Palmer competed with Steven Siler in the 2018 PFL Championship in the featherweight division. Palmer won the tournament after five rounds by unanimous decision.

Ali Isayev competed with Jared Rosholt in the 2019 PFL championship in the heavyweight division. Isayev won the tournament after intense four rounds with the TKO and won a one-million-dollar prize.

Emiliano Sordi competed with Jordan Johnson in the 2019 PFL Championship in the light heavyweight division. Sordi won the championship only after two minutes of fighting in round one with the TKO.

Ray Cooper III competed with David Michaud in the 2019 PFL Championship in the welterweight division. Cooper won the championship after 3 minutes in the second round with the TKO.

Natan Schulte competed with Loik Radzhabov in the 2019 PFL Championship in the lightweight division. Schulte won the championship after five rounds by unanimous decision and won a $1 million prize.

Lance Palmer competed with Alex Gilpin in the 2019 PFL Championship in the featherweight division. Palmer won the championship after five rounds by unanimous decision and won a million-dollar prize.

Kayla Harrison competed with Larissa Pacheco 2 in the 2019 PFL Championship in the women’s lightweight division. Harrison won the championship after five rounds by unanimous decision.

Bruna Cappelozza competed with Ante Delija in the 2021 PFL Championship in the heavyweight division. Cappelozza won the championship after five rounds with a unanimous decision and won a $1 million prize.

Antonio Carlos Junior competed with Marthin Hamlet in the 2021 PFL Championship in the light heavyweight division. Antonio won the championship after just 1 round with an excellent submission of a rear naked choke.

Ray Cooper III competed with Magomed Magomedkerimov in the 2021 PFL Championship in the welterweight division. Cooper won the championship after three rounds by knockout with the intense right-hand left hook.

Raush Manfio competed with Loik Radzhabov in the 2021 PFL Championship in the lightweight division. Manfio won the championship after intense five rounds with a unanimous decision and won a one million dollar prize.

Kayla Harrison competed with Taylor Guardado in the 2021 PFL Championship in the women’s lightweight division. Harrison won the championship after just two rounds with the submission via armbar.  

Movlid Khaybulaev competed with Chris Wade in the 2021 PFL Championship in the featherweight division. Movlid Khaibulaev won the championship after five rounds with a unanimous decision and won a $1 million prize.

Rob Wilkinson competed against Omari Akhmedov in the 2022 PFL Championship in the light heavyweight division. Wilkinson won the championship with the most strikes against Akhmedov. Wilkinson won a one-million-dollar prize after this win.

Ante Delija competed with Matheus Scheffel 2 in the 2022 PFL Championship in the heavyweight division. Delija won the championship via TKO. In two minutes in round 1. This victory earned him a $1 million prize. 

Sadibou Sy competed with Dilano Taylor in the 2022 PFL Championship in the welterweight division. Sadibou won the fight after intense five rounds by unanimous decision and won a $1 million prize.

Olivier Aubin-Mercier competed with Stevie Ray in the lightweight division at the 2022 PFL Championship. Mercier won the championship after just two rounds with the right-hook knockout.

Larissa Pacheco competed with Kayla Harrison in the 2022 PFL Championship in the women’s lightweight division. Pacheco won the championship and one million dollar prize after intense five rounds with the unanimous decision.

Brendan Loughnane competed with Bubba Jenkins in the 2022 PFL Championship in the featherweight division. Loughnane won the championship after four rounds with the TKO submission.

The PFL management clearly conveys the requirements and standards to the athletes to remove ambiguity and increase transparency in the judging process. Moreover, the new MMA platform is employing advanced technologies that are driven by accurate data that fans find useful during broadcasts. The high-end data systems make the fight analysis more detailed and easier to comprehend, so inexperienced enthusiasts can also understand the fight details and scoring.

In PFL, MMA fighters can fight twice in one PLF season. Contestants who make it to the finals can compete four times if they reach the finals.

The event format is the main difference between PFL and UFC. In the PFL league, fighters can compete multiple times a season, whereas in the UFC, fighters can compete once a season. PFL is also different from UFC in terms of strikes as PFL prohibits elbow strikes, unlike UFC. 

The Professional Fighters Champion is a martial arts league where fighters can compete multiple times in a season across different weight divisions, with the opportunity to win a $1 million prize. PFL adheres to the established rule set of mixed martial arts and has revolutionized combat sports by employing the latest broadcasting technologies for the benefit of fans. PFL has achieved commendable success and has quickly become a prestigious event in the world of MMA.

Photo Credit: @wikipedia & @pflmma