PFL CEO: Promotion Plans to Hold 50 Events by 2026

Professional Fighters League isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

In a recent interview with talkSPORT MMA, PFL CEO Peter Murray outlined the organization’s plans for expansion, which includes a significant increase in the total number of events held in the coming years.

“We have a regular cadence for every property. This year, we had 28 events,” Murray said. “Next year, we’ll have 36 events. Come 2026, we’ll have 50 events. So we’re focused on our global franchise events and then regional league events.”

This past year marked the debut of PFL MENA, which Murray said will soon be holding events “throughout the Middle East” after using Saudi Arabia as its home base to start. The overseas growth is far from complete, as PFL plans to have a total of “six international leagues up and running in the next two years,” according to Murray.

One of the biggest stories at the end of 2023 was PFL’s purchase of Bellator MMA. The organization continued to run separately as Bellator Champions Series in 2024, but there was some unrest from fighters regarding the lack of activity since the acquisition. PFL recently announced the first Champions Series event for 2025, which will be headlined by a lightweight title bout between Usman Nurmagomedov and Paul Hughes. The Bellator branding has been removed from the cards, but Murray made it clear that the format isn’t going anywhere. With more events on tap in the coming years, it’s possible that more fighters will be able to maintain active schedules under the PFL umbrella.

“I think with the acquisition of Bellator, some fighters and fans don’t understand where that fits in,” he said. “But now that we’ve established the Champions Series, it’s the super fights on top, then the Champions Series, then the global season, and the international leagues. That’s the architecture and that’s the pathway for fighters.”