The Professional Fighters League is reportedly halving the prize money awarded to their tournament winners this coming season.
Since its inception in 2017 and launch the following year, the PFL has dished out $1 million U.S. to winners of its six yearly tournaments, featuring five men’s and one women’s weight classes. However, as first reported by veteran MMA journalist Al Zullino, the prize money in newer PFL contracts is listed as $500,000 U.S. — exactly half of the previous purse.
In previous years, the “one million” purse for winning a PFL Global championship included the winner’s purse from the regular season, rather than being one million dollars on top of the money a fighter had won throughout the year. In 2025, the $500,000 will come on top of a fighter’s regular season pay, given it is listed as “an additional amount.”
While this seems like an obvious cut, the PFL is adding bonus money as an incentive to fighters in 2025. Title challengers will earn a $50,000 U.S. bonus on top of their purse, plus an additional $50,000 win bonus should they unseat the champ. Champions will earn an additional $100,000 on top of their purse (the purse set as equal to what they made in their title challenge), with a $100,000 win bonus.
An additional report by Uncrowned notes that the league is set to remove its points-style format, switching over to a grand prix style system more in line with traditional MMA tournaments.
League officials have yet to officially announced the changes. The PFL’s next event comes later this month, with Champions Series: Road to Dubai, a show that would fall under the Bellator banner (though the Bellator name has rather notably been dropped from promotional materials).
News of the changes comes just days after PFL Founder Donn Davis publicly vented some of his frustrations with events that unfolded in 2024.
