PFL’s 2025 calendar is kicks off this April in Florida.
On Tuesday, the league announced dates and a location for its first four events of the year, with its 2025 World Tournament kicking off at Universal Studios in Orlando on April 3, followed by shows at the same venue on April 11, April 18, and May 1.
Departing from the regular season and playoff format utilized by the league in recent years, the 2025 campaign features an eight-fighter, single-elimination tournament instead. The divisions featured are heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight, and flyweight, with the latter being the only women’s tournament this season.
Participants are yet to be announced for the upcoming season.
The winner of each tournament receives a $500,000 prize, down from the $1,000,000 prize of previous seasons.
Quarterfinal and semifinal bouts are three five-minute rounds, with the finals being five five-minute rounds. The semifinals are expected to take place on June 12, June 20, and June 27, with a location still to be determined.
The finals are scheduled for Aug. 1, 15 and 21, also with a location to be determined.
PFL events are set to air live on ESPN2 and ESPN+ in the United States.
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Didn’t pettis lose and move on to the next round? Thats not a tournament.
One Shot. The annual single-elimination tournament will feature brackets at Heavyweight , Light Heavyweight , Middleweight , Welterweight , Lightweight , Featherweight , Bantamweight , and Women’s Flyweight . The PFL World Tournament spans an action packed five months. 64 of the best fighters from around the world will compete to win MMA’s toughest test - win three straight times in five months to become PFL Tournament Champion. The First Round fights and the Semi-Final fights will be three, five-minute rounds while the Finals are five, five-minute rounds. All events and all fights now allow the use of elbows. The PFL World Tournament will payout over $20 million in total prize money, including a $500,000 bonus for every winner.
If you recall, earlier this year the promotion announced that it would be doing away with $1 million payouts for the tournament winner as part of it’s re-structuring. Furthermore, elbows are now allowed in all PFL fights.
With PFL doing away with Bellator MMA, and losing a couple of fighters along the way, the promotion will now have a deeper roster as it will now fully absorb all of the remaining fighters from the now-defunct company into the mix as one collective unit. Furthermore, details regarding participants and brackets will be announced in the coming days and weeks.
It wasn’t a tournament, strictly speaking, before. Pettis lost a “regular season” fight and then lost to the same guy in the post season semi-final. If you haven’t watched it’s a mouthful to explain. That’s why they’re doing away with the stupid stick and ball season format and just doing a straight tournament this year. That means one less fight per year for their guys.
PFL is a dead man walking. Donn Davis is praying Francis takes another boxing fight because he can’t monetize Francis’ purse and also have to cough up in 2 million for Francis’ opponent. What should be PFL’s biggest asset is their biggest liability. Monte Cox once wound up with Fedor under contract, but he never booked him because he knew he could never turn a profit paying out Fedor’s contracted purse. Same deal here. The only shred of hope they have is to get Francis and Jake Paul on a pay-per-view card together, but they probably lose money on that, too.