Dana White’s UFC has dominated the MMA world for years, consistently posting impressive pay-per-view numbers. Despite UFC’s market dominance, several emerging promotions have recently claimed success and are gaining attention in the industry. Professional Fighting League (PFL), co-founded by Donn Davis, has recently made some big claims which have raised some questions.
PFL recently held its biggest pay-per-view event, headlined by former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. As expected, the Cameroonian-French fighter drew massive attention. Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo attended the fight as well. Donn Davis has claimed that the event surpassed all UFC viewership numbers this year.
This event, by our research, beat every viewership number of every UFC event this year…So, that was really something that was our stretch goal and that’s what we achieved.
Donn Davis via MMA Fighting
Davis stated that PFL numbers were similar to this year’s biggest event, The Ring of Fire, headlined by Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. The number remains questionable because neither Canelo Alvarez nor Ryan Garcia came near that margin. Record-breaking UFC shows such as UFC 299, UFC 300, and UFC 306 were not announced to surpass the 1 million PPV buys.
Meanwhile, the PFL event was broadcast much earlier than primetime in the US. As such, those numbers might be a huge stretch. However, Davis might not be talking about PPV buys as such. There might be a specific metric that it looks for. Davis has not let any opportunity pass to throw shade at UFC. According to the PFL Co-founder, Dana White is scared of their continuous rise.
Donn Davis: This event by our research beat every viewership number of every UFC event this year. pic.twitter.com/5NIV2GGzgc
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) October 24, 2024
Davis recently challenged Dana White to a five-vs-five showdown, pitting the best fighters from the UFC against those from the PFL. However, in his typical confident manner, White dismissed every PFL’s claims. While no official reports have confirmed Davis’ claims, several top journalists have criticized the PFL co-founder for outrageous statements.
Popular journalist calls out PFL owner for acting like Dana White
The combat sports business is extremely tough, especially if you are going against the Goliath-like UFC. Competing against a twenty-year-old business with the best fighters and millions of fans is definitely not the easiest task. However, PFL co-founder Donn Davis is eager to try his best to do so.
To achieve that, as expected, Davis has used some methods that are non-conventional, and boasting is definitely one of them. However, top journalist Ariel Helwani has recently called out Davis for his alleged fake statements. According to Helwani, Davis is acting like Dana White in the early UFC days.
Promoter’s job is to promote. Back in the day, Dana White was trying to get attention. He was saying some outlandish things no different than this…he’s speaking like someone who talks to investors, not someone who’s talking to fans.
Ariel Helwani via The Ariel Helwani Show
Ariel Helwani offers advice to Donn Davis.#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/sgB6kJYKiG
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) October 23, 2024
Surprisingly, this behavior closely resembles Dana White’s approach to promoting Power Slap. In the past, White stated that his slap-fighting league had more fans than any other major sports club in the world. Both White and Davis have passed up the opportunity to collaborate. However, watching how close PFL can get to the UFC will be intriguing.
