All fighters are now unified and connected into one powerful roster
One brand 👊@PFLMMA 👊1 name on list
professional fighters league
#PFLMMA pic.twitter.com/JcylkqFQSA
— Donn Davis (@DonnDavisPFL)
January 14, 2025
The Bellator MMA brand is officially a thing of the past.
Don Davis, president and founder of the Professional Fighters League, issued a statement Tuesday clarifying Bellator’s position, saying, “All fighters… [are] They are now unified and connected into one powerful roster. ” That means the Bellator name will not be associated with any fighter or event under the PFL umbrella.
The full statement posted by Davis on social media is below.
The Professional Fighters League acquired Bellator MMA a year ago, primarily due to its talented roster of fighters. The PFL brand has become synonymous with a “win and move forward” format and product innovation. PFL has established itself as a premium brand with a variety of initiatives to help grow the great sport of MMA.
From now on, all match events and content will be PFL branded. The Bellator brand has a rich history and will continue to be respected and recognized through select title fights. Fans will continue to enjoy the vast Bellator fight library and historic fight content across social, digital and partner channels. All of our fighters are integrated and connected to one strong PFL brand around the world.
PFL acquired Bellator in late 2023 and continued to operate the promotion as a separate entity last year under the Bellator Champions Series name. The change in philosophy was evident before Davis’s announcement. That was when the promotion’s next event, headlined by Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and Paul Hughes on January 25th, was renamed the PFL Champions Series Road to Dubai. The card’s main event will still be the title fight, but it’s unclear at this point how that will tie in with the rest of the PFL schedule.
Although nothing is official at this time, the PFL is also expected to abolish the season format and revise its salary structure, which will feature a $1 million payout to the championship winner in each division. The promotion will reportedly move into a Grand Prix-style tournament, with the winner receiving $500,000. A formal announcement from PFL regarding the changes is expected later this week.
As it stands, Bellator’s last official event took place in London on September 14, 2024, although it wasn’t listed as such at the time. The promotion held its debut card on April 3, 2009 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, and has hosted more than 300 events during its more than 15-year run.
