PFL's Davis on New Ticket Pricing: This is a Sport for Young People and It's Gotten Too Expensive

In a year full of changes for Professional Fighters League, the organization’s founder maintains that the primary motivation remains the same as ever: to make top-tier MMA as accessible and enjoyable as possible for fans.

Midway through the first year in its new single-elimination format, as the 2025 World Tournament semifinals kick off on June 12 in Nashville, PFL chairman Donn Davis spoke to Sherdog.com about two major changes announced this week. According to Davis, both of those changes reflect the priority that PFL places on the fans’ best interests. After spending the entire first round of this year’s tournament at Orlando’s Universal Studios in what the PFL was calling its version of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Apex, Davis announced this week that while they gave it a shot, the company has decided that moving forward, all World Tournament events will be on the road.

“We never want to be right, we want to win,” Davis said about the move. “We don’t want to do things our way; we want to do things the fans’ way. What I announced is that we tried something by bringing the first four events to Orlando. We did that this year for the simple reason that we’re still a little company. We’re doing four continents this year, 20 of our shows are outside of the US, so we didn’t do it to hold down cost, we did it to hold down complexity.”

Davis claims that PFL’s leadership learned that having four consecutive events in a small broadcast studio was not ideal for fans.

“We found it was not a good fan experience as much as it is when we are out with the fans, in venues on the road,” he said. “We’re not going to do it again. We are going to hire more staff, plan it out more in advance, so that every show is on the road. We wanted to tell everyone that’s what we learned in the postmortem, we said it was a little easier for us, but it wasn’t good for the fans, so we’re not going to do that anymore.”

The move from Universal Studios to traditional venues with crowds is an indication of PFL’s ongoing commitment to listening to the fan base and reacting quickly. While the season and playoff format has been a PFL trademark since 2018, Davis admits that adjustments to that format could have come sooner.

“The first learning we did was that we just had to listen to the fans,” Davis said. “The second learning we did was the world tournament itself. For six years we’ve had a regular season, playoff, and championship where everyone fought twice and based on points they would advance. It was a great innovation because it was a great meritocracy because fighters controlled their destiny, but the fans said ‘PFL, it’s still too complicated’ and we said ‘OK, how about single elimination?’ and the fans said ‘Yes, that’s what we’ve been telling you guys!’”

Davis believes that the PFL’s commitment to giving fans what they want is the key to growth but will also help elevate the sport as a whole.

“We want to grow the sport,” Davis said. “We want to give the fans the best MMA product in the world, and the single-elimination tournament is another example of that.”

The second major change coming to PFL is a direct response to one of fans’ primary complaints about the sport, from the local level all the way up to PFL and UFC: high ticket prices. The promotion also announced that moving forward, all PFL events will have at least 500 tickets at $25, a stunning reversal of the general trend in which tickets to major MMA events start around $100 and climb from there.

“MMA on a premium scale—and there’s only two, UFC and PFL— it has gotten too expensive. This is a sport for young people. Fifty percent of MMA fans are 18-35, the events have gotten too expensive. How are you going to have a night out or go on a date? The PFL is changing that. $25 tickets. At least 500 tickets at every single PFL event in America and all over the world, starting today, $25, for at least 500 tickets. We want to be accessible, and we want to be fan-friendly premium MMA.”

This year’s semifinals will take place across three events in Nashville, Wichita, Kansas, and Chicago. Davis promises to bring shows to new cities moving forward, as well as returning to regular stops where the MMA fanbase is strong. While the viewing audience can access PFL’s on-screen product in various ways, Davis wants the company’s live experience to be similarly easy to enjoy. By taking the show on the road, with a new ticket pricing structure, Davis hopes to demonstrate that commitment.

“Of course we are always non-PPV, you can get us in broadcast, mobile, and linear, but now when you attend in person, we want to be accessible, we want to be there for fans in terms of attendance and availability.”