John Martin took over as CEO of the PFL in July 2025, stepping in with a background most struggle promotion executives merely don’t have. He spent years at Time Warner as CFO after which ran Turner Broadcasting as chairman and CEO from 2014 to 2018, overseeing a portfolio that included HBO, CNN, and Turner Sports activities. He additionally earned a black belt in karate and a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, so the MMA world wasn’t international to him when he walked via the door.
His first transfer was probably the most consequential in PFL historical past: he scrapped the event format. The construction that had outlined the promotion since its relaunch was gone, changed by a conventional champion-in-each-weight-class mannequin with stay rankings and matchmaker-driven bouts. Martin cited fighter welfare as a key cause; the gruelling multi-fight format was producing accidents and forcing withdrawals, even amongst rivals who have been profitable. The surprising upside, he instructed Forbes, was fighter morale. “The fighters are a lot happier now by and enormous,” Martin stated.
The Way forward for the PFL with John Martin
The dimensions of what Martin has set in movement in underneath a 12 months turns into clearer while you take a look at the numbers facet by facet. The product modifications seem like registering with followers. Ticket gross sales within the U.S. are up 12 months over 12 months, and scores on ESPN have climbed throughout Martin’s tenure, even amid restricted promotional help from the community. The PFL laid out a 24-event schedule for 2026, comprising 16 international exhibits and eight worldwide playing cards. Occasions have already taken place in Sioux Falls, Belfast, Dubai, Brussels, Pittsburgh, Pretoria, and Chicago, with San Diego coming June 27 and Lengthy Island on July 31.
The promotion has moved into a conventional champion-in-each-weight-class construction, launched stay rankings, and overhauled the way it builds and markets fights. Occasions now include stay music throughout major occasion walkouts, fighters strolling into purpose-dressed venues, and a manufacturing really feel that Martin has intentionally distinguished from a regular struggle card.
The published state of affairs is the place issues get interesting. PFL’s take care of ESPN, which dates again to 2019, is operating out, and Martin has made clear he isn’t anticipating to resume it. He publicly criticised the community’s promotional effort on Ariel Helwani’s podcast, declaring that ESPN is not carrying UFC content material but nonetheless hasn’t meaningfully pushed PFL. The promotion has since exited its unique negotiating window with ESPN with no new deal in place.
As an alternative, PFL is now in energetic discussions with Netflix and Fox, based on a report by Adam Stern in Sports Business Journal. Netflix has leaned closely into fight sports activities, its Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson occasion drew 60 million households worldwide, making it a sexy touchdown spot. Fox, which final carried UFC programming in 2018, nonetheless operates FS1 and FS2 and has proven willingness to place stay sports activities in primetime on its broadcast community. Martin has left the door technically open on ESPN, although his public feedback have made a return there look unlikely.
In August 2023, Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund automobile SRJ Sports activities Investments took a minority stake in PFL, with the express aim of launching a regional league and staging Tremendous Struggle occasions within the Kingdom. PFL MENA launched its third full season in 2026.
The season opener moved to the Coca-Cola Enviornment in Dubai on Could 24, branded as “Pleasure of Arabia,” with UFC veteran Mohammad Yahya headlining in opposition to Tunisia’s Mehdi Saadi in entrance of a house crowd. The league then returns to Jeddah, the place a June 19 card that includes the skilled debut of native fighter Hattan Alsaif in the primary occasion. PFL MENA broadcasts on MBC Motion, reaching free-to-air audiences throughout the Arab world, and has steadily constructed a regional identification round homegrown fighters advancing via a structured event.
PFL Africa launched in July 2025 in Cape City, South Africa. The promotion secured instant distribution depth: Canal+ took the French-language rights throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and carries PFL Africa stay to just about eight million houses. Season 2 kicked off in April 2026 on the SunBet Enviornment in Pretoria, marking PFL Africa’s first occasion in that metropolis, the third South African metropolis to host the promotion.
From there, the league introduced a June 13 debut in Lagos on the Eko Conference Centre, billed as the biggest MMA occasion in West African historical past, headlined by Nigeria’s Wasi “The Nigerian Jaguar” Adeshina. The tour has already handed via Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kigali, and Cotonou earlier than arriving in Nigeria. PFL Africa GM Elias Schulze, who has practically 20 years of expertise in sports activities enterprise, stated the debut season confirmed what the organisation believed entering into: “Africa is a powerhouse for blended martial arts.”
One side of the brand new broadcast dialog that caught consideration was Martin’s openness to working with MVP MMA, the promotion co-founded by Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul that distributes via Netflix. In a dialog with Forbes, Martin stated he would “completely have an interest” in a co-promotion if it made sense for PFL, noting that MVP has entry to the Netflix platform whereas PFL has the roster depth a severe international competitor wants. “What I inform internally to all our folks is that, look, we’re not the UFC, we’re not primary. We’ve obtained to be prepared to attempt to do some issues that perhaps can be unorthodox,” Martin stated.
His goal is obvious: cement the PFL because the world’s quantity two MMA promotion earlier than anybody else occupies that seat. The arrival of MVP and Scott Coker’s introduced international league for 2027 have made that window really feel shorter. To shut it, Martin has been constructing the cardboard round a mixture of rising Individuals and worldwide names. Johnny Eblen, who just lately scored a dominant win in Pittsburgh, is about to struggle once more quickly in a rematch in opposition to Costello van Steenis. A.J. McKee headlines the San Diego card on the finish of June. On the Lengthy Island present, light-weight champion Usman Nurmagomedov defends in opposition to undefeated NCAA Division I All-American wrestler Archie Colgan, whereas Dakota Ditcheva fights Denise Kielholtz within the co-main.
Martin has additionally been constructing exterior the cage, staging occasions in cities and venues that generate their very own story. The Madrid present marked the primary time a premium MMA organisation held a significant occasion in Spain, with native headliner Costello van Steenis giving the group a fighter to rally behind. PFL Brussels adopted, the place undefeated Patrick Habirora, who appeared at Paris Trend Week the week earlier than moving into the cage, made a big impression. Martin has additionally launched stay musical performances throughout major occasion walkouts at current European exhibits, a element geared toward separating the PFL expertise from a regular struggle card.
Taken as a complete, Martin’s first 12 months appears to be like extra like a structural overhaul than a settling-in interval. He changed the event format that had outlined the PFL for years, employed across the product, moved occasions into new markets on 4 continents, and commenced the method of exiting a broadcast deal that wasn’t serving the promotion. Ticket gross sales are up, ESPN scores have risen, and the fighter roster, Usman Nurmagomedov, Dakota Ditcheva, Johnny Eblen, and A.J. McKee, is as deep because the PFL has ever had.
The MENA operation is in its third season with Saudi funding behind it, and PFL Africa is halfway via Season 2 with occasions now reaching Nigeria for the primary time. The place it will get fascinating is distribution: the ESPN state of affairs has drifted towards an exit with no confirmed substitute, and the Netflix and Fox discussions, nonetheless promising, stay open. Martin has achieved the arduous inner work. The following take a look at is whether or not the precise broadcast accomplice arrives in time to place that work in entrance of the viewers it deserves.
The following media deal will seemingly outline whether or not Martin’s first two years translate into lasting construction or stay a promising run with no stage sufficiently big to showcase it. As he put it: “If we’re making it arduous for our followers to come back and see us, think about how in style it might be if we make it much less arduous.”
