I started an MMA league 5 years ago to rival the UFC… now it’s worth more than $500MILLION with top stars jumping ship

INVESTOR Donn Davis was inspired into the MMA business by the UFC – now he is out to rival them.

Davis is a former lawyer-turned money mogul who has spent the last three decades building sports and media companies.

PFL owner Donn Davis with Francis Ngannou

Mike Tyson is a friend of Davis’

UFC president Dana WhiteGetty

He got his big break working with internet provider AOL before leaving to launch his own venture capitalist group.

So a career in MMA was not something ever on Davis’ radar – but that was until he saw the UFC sell for $4.4BILLION in 2016.

The American felt there was a gap in the market for another promotion to come and really threat the UFC.

But Davis wanted to do it with a twist and that is how the Professional Fighters League was born in 2018.

The PFL is a seasonal format, where stars in each weight have two qualification bouts.

Points are earned per method of victory, with the top four progressing into the semi-final knockout stages.

It culminates in a series of winner-take-all finale fights where not only a championship belt but a $1million cash prize is on the line.

So Davis insists title shots are not determined via a popularity contest but rather by results in the cage.

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He told SunSport: “You have to win to advance, you win four times and you become champion.

“In the UFC it’s, ‘You’re one and I’m two because Dana White said so.’ It’s great entertainment but it’s not sport.

“Sport is the athletes decide what happens in the cage or on the pitch or on the field is everything.

“Win and advance. True meritocracy and that’s what the PFL is.”

The PFL is aired on TV powerhouse ESPN Stateside and on sports streaming service DAZN in the UK.

And their roster is growing with the likes of ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou and YouTuber-turned boxer Jake Paul on board.

So Davis was forced to re-evaluate his targets after refusing to settle for just second best to the UFC.

He admitted: “Being super honest, when I started the company my goal was to build a great No2 company in MMA. 

PFL star Kayla Harrison celebrates her $1m winnings

The PFL crown six champs a season

“I truly saw that there would be two or three really good big companies in MMA. 

“And I talked around to my investors and to all everyone that I’ve hired and said, ‘We’re going to be a really good No2 and that’s our goal.’ We set a new goal this year to be a co-leader.” 

The PFL have celebrity investors such as baseball icon Alex Rodriguez who in 2022 put $30m (£24.7m) of his own cash into the company.

And the promotion recently celebrated a $100m (£82.4m) investment from Saudi Arabia.

So Davis said: “We’ve been public in saying we raised our last round of capital in a little over $500million last year. 

“We haven’t talked about our new value but it’s higher than that.”

Social media sensation Paul, 26, who is 7-1 as a boxer, is in line to make his MMA debut with the PFL this year.

And so too is Ngannou – who turned down a UFC extension to join the PFL – taking the company to new heights.

Francis Ngannou left the UFC for the PFL

Davis said: “It was a big deal. Jake is fantastic validation but Francis even more so. 

“It’s like if Kylian Mbappe went to a soccer league that nobody has ever heard of. That’s what Francis did.”

Ngannou, 37, was offered the same money by the PFL as the UFC but he has been given freedom to fight boxer Tyson Fury, 35.

And having the chance to head up PFL Africa leaves Davis insisting his reasoning for signing was far more than financial.

He said: “Think of this, we paid Francis the same as the UFC offered him. 

“He’s going to make the same per fight as he would’ve with the UFC. So he came here for two reasons. 

“Firstly, control. He wanted to box, the UFC said no. He wanted to start PFL Africa with us, he wanted to build back home with us. 

“He wanted his own MMA league and the UFC said no.”

The PFL debuted their European season this year, with winners earning $100,000 and a place in the global $1m bracket.

And in 2024 they will launch their new pay-per-view “super-fight” series – away from the league – where Ngannou and Paul will debut.

The 2023 season culminates on Friday, November 24 at the Anthem in Washington, DC.

Davis launched the PFL in 2018