Who does the PFL have anymore in terms of name value?!!!?

[Lionheart7167]

Not knocking the PFL. They have a ton of amazing talent currently.

However, in terms of actual name value (i.e. old UFC fighters, Bellator, previous PFL fighters, etc.), who is still on their roster with any pedigree????

Not sure what's going on with Ngannou these days, Pat Mix and Pitbull were arguably their two other bigger names.

Umar, Paul Hughes, Divechka, AJ Mkee, Eblen, Moldavski.... who else currently has some prestige in the rankings or amongst fans?

 

[Trabaho]

No Nganou on the Africa card ?

 

[STAY GOLD]

Musaev. He's the best welterweight in the world.

 

['Suga Daddy']

They’re trying to build towards younger guys and talent. So Doumbe, Ditcheva, Hughes, Abdouraguimov, Thad Jean, Dalton Rosta, Usman Nurmagomedov, Shamil Musaev, Simeon Powell. I think investing more in the next stars (now that a few of the Bellator mainstays have left)

 

[skylolow]

Isn't Don Davis the star

Seriously though, they ran into the wall that all these bigger orgs do. Fans want the names, they want the names, they get some names, but in the end they don't have the money to continue to do that/chase it without revenue increasing. I give them credit for at least trying but it seems like it has failed. They signed Francis and they got Bellator, kudos for having the balls to do it. But it seems very apparent with the release of many of the Bellator stars they simply don't have the revenue to support it. The first year after they got Bellator fighters and Francis it was little rough and by year two it has turned into a nightmare.

 

[DamnSevern]

when I think of PFL, it doesn't even seem like 1 organization anymore. it almost feels like 3 or 4 different ones. and yeah Shamil Musaev is top 3 ww in the world . Honestly wish they would just leave the US and do global stuff. They should just go collar with local orgs in Eastern Europe, Eurasia and Africa.

UFC also recently took 2 of their top 5 most entertaining fighters in mix and pico

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Isn't Don Davis the star

Seriously though, they ran into the wall that all these bigger orgs do. Fans want the names, they want the names, they get some names, but in the end they don't have the money to continue to do that/chase it without revenue increasing. I give them credit for at least trying but it seems like it has failed. They signed Francis and they got Bellator, kudos for having the balls to do it. But it seems very apparent with the release of many of the Bellator stars they simply don't have the revenue to support it. The first year after they got Bellator fighters and Francis it was little rough and by year two it has turned into a nightmare.

Where PFL fucked up was getting Ngannou. Period. They could have just had a great roster with the Bellator merger and did fights people actually wanted to see like in the PFL vs Bellator PPV on a consistent basis. They could have honestly done without Ngannou damn near bankrupting them after one PPV.

This is also the effect of being run by dipshit owners who are completely out of touch with MMA culture like Donn Davis who think the way to be "cool" to combat sports fans is promoting Jake Paul.

Probably the worst MMA PR run since EliteXC. They have no goodwill with fans or casuals alike.

 

['Suga Daddy']

when I think of PFL, it doesn't even seem like 1 organization anymore. it almost feels like 3 or 4 different ones. and yeah Shamil Musaev is top 3 ww in the world . Honestly wish they would just leave the US and do global stuff. They should just go collar with local orgs in Eastern Europe, Eurasia and Africa.

UFC also recently took 2 of their top 5 most entertaining fighters in mix and pico

They are operating mainly out of the US tbf, the world tournament is their only American product

 

[EndlessCritic]

Name value is overrated.

Elite level guys you've never heard of that they can turn into stars is what PFL should be doing.

If Thad Jean beats Jackson, he's instantly going to be one of the top fighters in the world.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Name value is overrated.

Elite level guys you've never heard of that they can turn into stars is what PFL should be doing.

If Thad Jean beats Jackson, he's instantly going to be one of the top fighters in the world.

Unless the PFL can turn around their product to something worth following, their stars are immediately going to be subject to “When is XXX going to the UFC?”.

Good promotions like Strikeforce delivered a well-developed product to where fans actually looked forward to their champions fighting the next contenders rather than wondering when their contract would run out to go to the UFC.

The regional feeders have good fighters too. Having a solid product in MMA is about more than just that.

 

[Koala]

Pico was not a headliner, and Mix was not a ticket seller. Even Pitbull was more of a co-main than a main eventer at the end of his Bellator run
Their stars are mostly Ngannou, Nurmagomedov, Doumbe, Eblen, Hughes, and most likely Ditcheva: the ones who sell tickets

 

[Cartiac]

However, in terms of actual name value (i.e. old UFC fighters, Bellator, previous PFL fighters, etc.), who is still on their roster with any pedigree????

Not sure what's going on with Ngannou these days, Pat Mix and Pitbull were arguably their two other bigger names.

Umar, Paul Hughes, Divechka, AJ Mkee, Eblen, Moldavski.... who else currently has some prestige in the rankings or amongst fans?

Good question that I'm not sure anyone can answer. Even the names you list are not part of their tournament system, but under their "Champion Series" whatever that is.

Where PFL fucked up was getting Ngannou. Period. They could have just had a great roster with the Bellator merger and did fights people actually wanted to see like in the PFL vs Bellator PPV on a consistent basis. They could have honestly done without Ngannou damn near bankrupting them after one PPV.

This is also the effect of being run by dipshit owners who are completely out of touch with MMA culture like Donn Davis who think the way to be "cool" to combat sports fans is promoting Jake Paul.

Probably the worst MMA PR run since EliteXC. They have no goodwill with fans or casuals alike.

Yea, the Ngannou deal looks dumb on the surface, but connecting a few dots with a little speculation, there was likely a lot more to that deal that greatly benefited PFL.

Consider that shortly after Ngannou signed with PFL, Saudi Arabia gives PFL $100M. That was followed by Ngannou competing in two major HW boxing matches in Saudi Arabia. Coincidence?

 

[Lionheart7167]

It's interesting.
I can't really say there's any "Stars" outside of the UFC at this point. You can maybe say Pudz is a star in Poland, but outside of KSW no one cares.
Ngannou, I thought, was a star.... until his PPV against Renan got a miserable 10K buy rate.

 

[skylolow]

Where PFL fucked up was getting Ngannou. Period. They could have just had a great roster with the Bellator merger and did fights people actually wanted to see like in the PFL vs Bellator PPV on a consistent basis. They could have honestly done without Ngannou damn near bankrupting them after one PPV.

This is also the effect of being run by dipshit owners who are completely out of touch with MMA culture like Donn Davis who think the way to be "cool" to combat sports fans is promoting Jake Paul.

Probably the worst MMA PR run since EliteXC. They have no goodwill with fans or casuals alike.

Hard to say how the Francis deal really affected them on the bottom line. Saudi's invested in the PFL and agreed to help pay for some of these shows in SA. Then gave Francis two boxing matches.

If anything I think Saudi's might over estimated Francis's draw power. Cause I'm not sure anyone saw a ROI on Francis over there.


It just seems like they took on Bellator's roster and didn't have the right/enough people in place to manage the roster. It has been a complete mess from the outside looking in since they acquired Bellator. All the issues behind the scenes is what is causing the exit of fighters.

 

[STAY GOLD]

It just seems like they took on Bellator's roster and didn't have the right/enough people in place to manage the roster.

Some of the deals some of the Bellator fighters were on didn’t make sense to them.

 

[shorinryu86]

I don't think they will last

 

[skylolow]

Some of the deals some of the Bellator fighters were on didn’t make sense to them.

No doubt, it is hard to blame PFL trying to renegotiate with some them.

Maybe it is a good sign. At least PFL understands you only have so much money and fighter pay has to make good business sense. The UFC has been to only org to really stick to their guns on fighter pay and it has been probably one of the most important pieces of what built the UFC to what it is today. Way too many of these smaller orgs over extend themselves and we all know how that show ends.

 

[CC27]

They have a few European fighters that can be big but thats about it and nobody in US.

Doumbe, Hughes and Dakota. I think Dakota has a huge upside but it has a ceiling in PFL. In UFC if she came in and won a title tomorrow and UFC actually gave her the push she could be a star. Good looking, young, finisher etc.

But they dont have the appeal in US and she doesnt have any opponents so for her its always gonna be small time in PFL.

 

[DamnSevern]

They have a few European fighters that can be big but thats about it and nobody in US.

Doumbe, Hughes and Dakota. I think Dakota has a huge upside but it has a ceiling in PFL. In UFC if she came in and won a title tomorrow and UFC actually gave her the push she could be a star. Good looking, young, finisher etc.

But they dont have the appeal in US and she doesnt have any opponents so for her its always gonna be small time in PFL.

youre the only name I recognize from the UG, hope all is well man

 

[CC27]

youre the only name I recognize from the UG, hope all is well man

Yeah man doing good. Hope all is well with you. That place fell off the face of the earth. You were one of the best posters over there.