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It was announced yesterday that the Professional Fighters League (PFL) has acquired Bellator MMA, merging the Bellator brand to the PFL umbrella.
PFL founder Donn Davis believes now that the merger is complete, UFC President Dana White will be worried about what will be going down in the future.
“Everybody knows Dana well enough that he only dismisses things that worry him or else he just doesn’t comment,” Davis said on The MMA Hour. “He didn’t comment on the PFL for four years because he wasn’t worried. He’s commented on the PFL a lot the last six months. You’re worried.
“What specifically worried him about Bellator is the metrics we put on the press release. Thirty percent of that roster ranked in the top 25 per Fight Matrix rankings. This is not Dana gets to rank his own guys, Donn’s ranking his own guys. There’s only one group that ranks all fighters, Fight Matrix, independently. Thirty percent of the UFC roster is top 25-ranked and now our combined company of PFL and Bellator, thirty percent. The same.
“Now, to the UFC’s credit, if you look at top 5 in the world, they still own the top 5, one through five. So pay-per-view cards, we couldn’t compete with them right now, which is we’re only going to have two and they have 12. But if you say I’m turning on TV on ESPN Saturday night or I’m going to tune in Friday night to watch this Bellator International Series or PFL, our card’s going to be better. Better. Because what they put on this year was ranked 70 [on average Fight Matrix ranking] and what we’re going to put on the next year is ranked 40. That’s why he said, ‘I don’t know why in God’s green Earth anybody’s buying this,’ because he’s smart and he knows that. UFC ain’t the NFL. We’re not the XFL. But he wants you to think that. And it’s just a matter of time before that starts to get more well known, then we’re not No. 2, we’re co-leader. He doesn’t want that. That’s what’s going on.”
Neither White or anybody from the UFC has commented on the merger at this time.
Davis says the next step for the PFL is to become the co-leader of the MMA industry, alongside the UFC.
“As a founder of a company you always go back to day one,” Davis said. “Day one, people said, ‘This whole season format thing ain’t going to work. UFC’s an 8,000-pound gorilla, hundreds of companies have tried.’ So on a day like this, you just think, another chapter. Our first goal is to be No. 2. That was really our first goal. Check, we did that. Now our next goal is with new assets and new capabilities and great fighters, how can we become co-leader? So kind of as an entrepreneur, you’re never, ever done. You never really sit back, instead you say, ‘What’s next?’ So what’s next for us is, OK, No. 2, check. Now let’s go try to be co-leader.”
