Exclusive: Peter Murray Details New PFL Single Elimination World Tournament

PFL (Professional Fighters League) President and Chairman, Donn Davis, told Newsweek Sports in December that big changes were coming in 2025. Those changes have now been revealed.

More news: Exclusive: Donn Davis Breaks Down How PFL Plans to Expand and Evolve MMA in 2025

In a new exclusive interview, PFL CEO Peter Murray sat down with Newsweek Sports to discuss the brand-new Single Elimination World Tournament. This new format is set to completely revolutionize the organization, and offer fans a much different take on the former regular season structure.

Murray revealed that the are going to be eight weight classes participating in the new PFL Single Elimination World Tournament.

“It’s time to ‘freshen up’ the PFL competition, and the product, and the format. We are excited to announce we are going to single elimination. It’s a World Tournament, which starts in April. We have eight weight classes versus six, so we added two more weight classes to it. From a fan perspective, we think win and advance, lose and go home, win at all costs, makes it an even more exciting experience.” Murray stated.

“From a scheduling standpoint, we go from eight months in presenting the overall completion, to five. We think that also contains the energy and excitement among fans following the journies of the fighters and the competition as the first round concludes, and we go into semi-finals and then the finals.”

The press release denotes more information about the format.

“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 World 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.”

Murray then details the schedule for the new Single Elimination World Tournament schedule.

“The first round is in April. The semi-finals will be in June. In August, is Champions or finals month. Historically, we had our World Championship, where we had six weight classes. Six title fights in one night. We are now going to turn August into three finals, where we have two world title fights on each card, so we really dominate the month. We are really excited about it, and the athletes are excited about it as well.”

One of the biggest changes in terms of the new format is world champions will see their $1 million bonus moved to $500,000, but that will be in addition to amounts secured through fighting in the tournament in general.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say it [bonus] is moving down as it relates to PFL, our investment in the world tournament as it relates to fighter compensation. We’re investing $20 million in the competition directly related to fighter purses. You know, they’re comped their purses, plus the bonus, so this is a big deal, it’s a big opportunity for these fighters. Each winner will get a half-a-million-dollar bonus. Each fighter in the first round, the semi-finals, and the finals they get their show and win money, and should they win, they get a half a million on top of it over the five months.”

Read more: PFL Founder Donn Davis Reveals Previously Banned Elbows Will Now be Legal

A concern that could be seen is the now-legal elbows or another injury stopping a tournament winner from advancing. Murray details a bit about the contingency plan that would be in place that would see the tournament continue.

“It’s just like any sport. There’s backups. There’s an injury or something transpires where an athlete can’t continue on and compete, we always have alternates. There is a plan for alternates who will be competing on these cards. The first round, the semis, just so that they are ready. We’ll be providing alternate fighters chances to compete, develop their careers, but they are on the ready.”

Showcase fighters will also be added to the tournament cards, and the first-round cards will be announced next month. Murray also divulged that the new tournament format will be comprised of a seeding structure, similar to that of March Madness.

“It’s all about that first round. In that first round, it’s a seeding structure. The first seed is competing against the eighth seed, and it works itself through that way.”

The PFL Single Tournament World Tournament will be streamed on ESPN and ESPN+ in the U.S., and distributed to 190 countries worldwide. The broadcast schedule, locations of the tournament, and more will be released in February.

To watch the entire interview, watch the video above.

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