News PFL Dropping Tournament Format

[wwkirk]

This seems like a very bad idea as this is possibly the one thing that makes PFL unique.
Key bit of "wisdom":

However, Martin now believes his roster is good enough to compete with the UFC without having to use a complicated matchup format.

New PFL CEO John Martin Explains Why He’s Ending Unique Tournament Format

Professional Fighters League CEO John Martin doesn’t think his product needs a complicated structure to stand out.

www.sherdog.com

 

[asdf122345]

ouch. There goes the pfl.

 

[David Street]

Now they can compete with KSW & Oktagon MMA.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Listened to the interview. Sounded like he was open to getting rid of the uniforms too. If they pull that off, I might be sold.

Honestly, moving towards matchmaking instead of tournaments is the right move IMO. PFL tournaments had gotten stale long ago.

 

[DougieJones]

Should've done this right after the Bellator deal

 

[Koala]

They should have ramped up the matchmaking part before stopping the tournaments
They don't have rankings, I am not sure of who the champs are outside Usman Nurmagomedov, they don't even have active fighters, or some sort of calendar
They just have a good roster at WW and HW, and the tournaments
Outside of that, they will struggle to avoid rematches between their 3-4 elite fighters per weight class

 

[skylolow]

I think they have proved that tournament heavy format just doesn't work from a business stand point. Fans, simply don't care because many times the tournament match ups don't get fans excited. Fans, can't quantify if the actual match ups are good or not event after event. So they just don't care to begin with. Not too mention they wasted a lot of money on those tournaments on guys that would fight for a hell of a lot less.

Now let's hope he can convince Donn Davis to abandon the tournament heavy business model.

 

[jeskola]

between the lines: we can't afford the big tournament payouts anymore so we are doing this

 

[Tweak896]

I always wondered how long the 1 million dollar tournaments were going to last, now I know. I like the idea of tournaments, UFC could use a few in some divisions. But the rotating champion is stupid. Then you had garbage like the "PFL Super Fights Heavyweight Championship" on their only PPV. Of all competing top mma orgs against UFC, PFL is the weirdest and most confusing.

Maybe if they had a tournament to lead up to the title contender would be cool. But PFL is such a mess, I'll never understand how they burn through so much money. I'm glad they are an option, UFC needs some alternatives, but they need a whole rework. Maybe this is a good first step to that.

 

[STAY GOLD]

between the lines: we can't afford the big tournament payouts anymore so we are doing this

The GPs were $1M before and they slashed it in half with the new tournament format to $500K.

Not ideal purses, but than most as a lot of MMA fighters aren't making that anywhere.

I enjoy PFL more than a lot of folks do so I hope they thrive.

 

[TCE]

However, Martin now believes his roster is good enough to compete with the UFC without having to use a complicated matchup format.

Yeah, good luck with that.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Yeah, good luck with that.

Yeah, diluting your roster to a bunch of feeder leagues is certainly going to help.

 

[ChrisBenoit]

Can PFL just drop PFL?

 

[Chokez]

I'm currently smashing through all of the PFL events as I get them in the UK on my DAZN account at home, but when I go away to work I don;'t get any of it.

Yes I see some of the negatives that people talk about, but I watch all UFC events including APEX shit and some DWCS (very casually) and this is just the same as UFC, if you take out the top 10%. Nothing is going to compare to the big PPV stars but fights are pretty much fights and this is very fun to watch.

 

[CC27]

But Donn Davis said this was the future and the best way and was fair unlike UFC. Its just funny how much he doubled down on that only for them to realize uh no its not.

On one hand I understand other orgs wanting to be different from UFC but its like you want to be different from the org that runs the show, that makes all the money and gets all the attention? You want to be different from that? So you dont want attention, money etc.

They now realize throwing a million for tournaments only for guys like Shoeface to win who nobody could care less was probably a bad business dec.

Just making the right fights is what you do.

 

[leto1776]

Now let's hope he can convince Donn Davis to abandon the tournament heavy business model.

Donn is out. This new guy runs things now.

 

[DougieJones]

Donn is out.

Thank God

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

this is the obvious move, anyone in support of a tournament format should have been fired immediately, no notice.

they need to build individual stars, not numbers on a text board image.

get rid of stupid ass uniforms and let the fighters get their sponsors and show some individuality.

i do like the smart cage, at least its different.

but they need to change the aesthetics as well.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

if you're going to do a tournament, the ONLY way that people can get interested, especially if its a bunch of no ones, is you have to do a ONE NIGHT tournament again. that's it. that's real MMA, that's the basis of it, that's the reality.

any event that did that, would guarantee views, interest, buzz, etc. ANYONE who wins a one night tournament instalty deservers respect and would get it in my opinion. that is how you stand out. that's the only way you can do tournaments.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

if you're going to do a tournament, the ONLY way that people can get interested, especially if its a bunch of no ones, is you have to do a ONE NIGHT tournament again. that's it. that's real MMA, that's the basis of it, that's the reality.

any event that did that, would guarantee views, interest, buzz, etc. ANYONE who wins a one night tournament instalty deservers respect and would get it in my opinion. that is how you stand out. that's the only way you can do tournaments.

Get with the times. Unless you're pushing for a tournament with 1 5min round per fight for 8 guys. There's not anywhere with a sanctioning body that allows this.