Jonathan Coachman discusses the changes and goals for the PFL in 2025 with the World Tournament, production, and sports betting.
2025 will look to be the biggest year of reinvention for the Professional Fighters League. Gone is the season format where fighters earn points in order to earn a spot in the playoffs. In it’s place is a single elimination tournament which kicks off on April 3 and will feature the return of the middleweight division and the debut of the bantamweight division for the promotion.
Jonathan Coachman, who previously featured in content centered on sports betting and will now be an analyst for the company in 2025, discussed the revamped format and approach the promotion is taking this year. In particular, he identified that the win or go home format of the season will allow the athletes who perform well to stand out and get pushed to the forefront as opposed to the dynamic of the points system used in previous years.
“I think we have a real opportunity with how the world of MMA is right now to pivot, change, and fix some of the mistakes that we made in the past and then roll out some really good new people from other organizations that Dan and Peter brought in. I think you’re going to see the production really elevated. You’re gonna see a lot of shoulder programming that we’ve never done before: Pre-Fight shows Post-Fight press conferences. Lean into the fighters. I hope fighters understand: I don’t want to hear any more complaining. Bottom line, no more complaining. We will lean into the fighters that lean into themselves because you gotta be entertaining, you gotta be able to talk, you gotta sell yourself, sell your brand, and I hope these these teams understand that and they start to do that instead of just saying ‘Well I’m not getting the fights’. Well guess what if you are worthy of a main event fight or worthy of a co-main event fight because you’re exciting and you’re going out there and having a fast action packed fight, not decision after decision after decision. I think we’ve got enough OGs as I call them but also enough new names. I think it’s gonna be very exciting”
It’s not difficult to see where the single-elimination tournament could be seen as more favorable compared to the season format for the athletes involved. Should you find yourself in a closely competitive match then winning ensures your tournament continues as opposed to being left out of the next round if the other fighters score more points in their matches. Per Coachman, it also allows fighters to keep a more active schedule as losing in the tournament would open up your flexibility to still compete on the prelims of future tournament cards or on the new PFL Champions Series events that will launch in June.
As one of the voices for sports betting in combat sports, Coachman also sees the new tournament format as a great opportunity for the promotion to get involved with the sports books. Just as March Madness is a lightening rod for the gamblers in Las Vegas and beyond, the PFL tournament provides plenty of options for those who are looking to get more invested in the results.
“This tournament is perfect for futures betting. You have so many different things that you can do and we’re actively talking to different sports books and hopefully they see this interview and understand that in the past we were with one sports book. It was a big name, but they didn’t give us any offerings. No markets. It was odds two days before. It was sometimes -800, no round bets, no method of victory bets. You can’t bet -800. It’s just not possible. What I would do and what we’re actively trying to do and hopefully you’ll see this on my show in the next few days is create [odds], because I have an oddsmaker on my show, so even if they are not out there we can make them. Future betting to where somebody can go to a particular book, and I have one that I use on my show, and say this guy you can bet on all eight fighters to win their division so think about this”
The new PFL World Tournament will kick off on April 3, 2025 with several events taking place at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
