Professional Fighters League chairman Donn Davis is stepping down from his role, the promotion announced Wednesday, marking a significant leadership change for the organization as it continues its push to expand globally and establish itself as a major player in the MMA landscape.
Davis made the announcement on social media.
“From the moment I founded Professional Fighters League 8 years ago, it has been my life.
My vision was to create an innovative and premium MMA company as the valuable alternative for those that want it or need it.
We started with nothing – except universal skepticism. Against all odds we succeeded. Now PFL is the clear #2 MMA company worldwide and the only other premium product.
0 fighters to 80 of the top 300 world-ranked fighters under exclusive contract. 0 live events to 24 per year on 4 continents. 0 distribution to 190 countries with 20 major media partners. 0 viewers to 2 million average linear and streaming global viewers per event. 0 social media followers to 30 million active across all platforms.
TODAY I’M STEPPING DOWN AS CHAIRMAN OF PFL.
I care deeply about each employee, value highly every investor, respect greatly our fighters, and appreciate sincerely all fans who supported this company – I gave you everything I’ve got.
Together we built from scratch an entire global sports league. PFL’s fighter roster, product quality, worldwide footprint, and market position has never before been achieved in MMA outside of UFC. I’m confident this incredible foundation should lead to great future success.
PFL changed the great sport of MMA for the better – meaningful innovations, unique global expansion, fighter empowerment – and the company is just getting started.
I’ve loved fighting to build PFL. What Do You Fight For,” Davis wrote in the post.
Davis founded the PFL in 2017 after acquiring World Series of Fighting, then officially launched the promotion in 2018. During his tenure as chairman, he helped establish the league’s signature season-and-playoffs format, which culminated in $1 million payouts for tournament winners.
Davis also played a key role in the acquisition of Bellator, overseeing the process of absorbing its roster before the promotion was ultimately dissolved.
One of the biggest milestones of his run came with the signing of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. While the move hasn’t delivered the boost PFL expected, largely due to Ngannou competing just once under the banner so far, it still represented a major statement, landing one of the sport’s biggest stars away from the world’s top promotion.
As of now, there is no word on what’s next for Davis.
