News Donn Davis steps down as PFL chairman

[Lionheart7167]

Man, what a mark this guy was.

He couldn't even name his own top fighters

 

[svmr_db]

 

[skylolow]

Boy he thinks he accomplished a lot.

 

[arcadeperfect]

Lol @ the #2 promotion claim. It's a distant second at best.

 

[Lionheart7167]

He always seemed like a bit of buster, but when he responded with "I don't watch fights", when asked who his favorite fighter was, I was immediately like "get this dude out".

 

[jeskola]

The AOL guy steps down from the AOL of MMA.

Its over for PFL. Next thing we know they will stop mailing us CD-ROMs.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

This is a joyous occasion, imo

 

[neandertal]

Theres a crazy amount of lies in that lol, good luck though!

 

[IndyCovaHart]

Pfl still exists?

 

[David R]

PFL will be better off. Dude was all about expand expand.

It seems the PFL fighters are not leaving en-mass like they were.

 

[David R]

Donn Davis didn't sell his entire stake but stepped down as PFL Chairman as Knighthead Capital Management and 885 Capital increased their investments to become lead owners, taking over leadership in a significant ownership shuffle announced in January 2026, establishing a new board, and bringing in John Martin as CEO.

 

[wwkirk]

Donn Davis didn't sell his entire stake but stepped down as PFL Chairman as Knighthead Capital Management and 885 Capital increased their investments to become lead owners, taking over leadership in a significant ownership shuffle announced in January 2026, establishing a new board, and bringing in John Martin as CEO.

So, he was nudged out by new investors?

 

[David R]

So, he was nudged out by new investors?

Not new (already were invested) but they teamed up and bought controlling interest as PFL was losing too much money.

 

[twiztor]

Davis out here acting like he started PFL from scratch. i'll still take WSOF > PFL every day of the week.

 

[Goatenstein]

The AOL guy steps down from the AOL of MMA.

Its over for PFL. Next thing we know they will stop mailing us CD-ROMs.

Yeah the difference is AOL once ruled whereas PFL has always been distant #2 or worse. I wonder if the failed pathetic signings of Ngannou and Paul have led to this mass firings of their execs.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Whoever was behind the signing of Jake Paul should be blacklisted from MMA...

 

[David R]

Yeah the difference is AOL once ruled whereas PFL has always been distant #2 or worse. I wonder if the failed pathetic signings of Ngannou and Paul have led to this mass firings of their execs.

Money loss and debt reason they needed money so sold more interest in PFL giving Knighthead Capital the chance they needed to team up with UAE investor. As PFL is run by its biggest investors. Yes Donn Davis signed Jake Paul and Francis both were too costly.

 

[JayPettryMMA]

Whoever was behind the signing of Jake Paul should be blacklisted from MMA...

At the outset, we were told (and the press release said, I checked) that he actually bought into the PFL as a minority owner. Not sure the other arrangements besides his "title" for fighter advocacy that he did nothing with.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

At the outset, we were told (and the press release said, I checked) that he actually bought into the PFL as a minority owner. Not sure the other arrangements besides his "title" for fighter advocacy that he did nothing with.

You know. Jake Paul is a chode... But the guy has a bunch of star power ( social media ) , and used none of it to help PFL and MMA grow...

How I would describe their relationship.... basically like Karate Combat postponing an event for 5 hours because they couldn't get the ring in the building...

 

[Trabaho]

Won't be missed. He doesn't even watch MMA.