Exclusive LIVE coverage and streaming rights begin with the inaugural PFL
Challenger Series leading into the 2022 PFL league season events
PFL will deliver UK & Irish MMA fans 20+ LIVE premium events featuring world-class
fighters along with original content and access to its fight library
PFL Regular Season kicks off on April 20 to more than 160 countries
NEW YORK (February 8, 2022) - The Professional Fighters League (PFL), the fastest growing and most innovative sports league, and Channel 4, a leading commercial broadcaster, today announced an exclusive broadcast partnership for 2022. Under the agreement, Channel 4 will become the exclusive PFL broadcast partner in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
Channel 4’s platforms will carry the PFL’s inaugural Challenger Series, beginning February 18, along with the 2022 PFL Regular Season, Playoffs, and PFL World Championship.
Additionally, Channel 4 will bring MMA fans exclusive PFL live events plus original content produced by both PFL Studios and 4Studios.
PFL Featherweight fighter Brendan Loughnane, a Manchester, UK native, earned major attention during the 2021 PFL Season with a first-round knockout to Sheymon Moraes and a majority decision over Tyler Diamond. Loughnane made it all the way to the 2021 Playoffs and is poised to be a major contender for the 2022 PFL Championship with $1M on the line.
Other top fighters from the UK and Ireland on the PFL’s 2022 season roster include Heavyweight Stuart Austin, Lightweight Myles Price from Republic of Ireland and Lightweight Stevie Ray from Scotland. Londoner Simeon Powell will also make his debut in the PFL Challenger series.
“The Professional Fighters League is thrilled to announce our media partnership with Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and Ireland,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray. “MMA fans in the UK and Ireland will now have unprecedented access to year-round live MMA events featuring star PFL fighters competing in a unique sport season format. Our partnership with Channel 4 illustrates MMA has further evolved into a mainstream sport and PFL is the fastest growing and most innovative league in the world.”
“The Professional Fighters League partnership with Channel 4 is a pivotal moment for the PFL as UK & Ireland are priority markets with an underserved fanbase’’ said PFL SVP of International James Frewin. “PFL is committed to continuing to reimagine and grow the sport of MMA around world.”
“We’re delighted to be partnering with the PFL and bringing top quality MMA to British fight fans. The PFL is innovative, ambitious and exciting – a great fit for our expanding portfolio of sport,” said Channel 4 Commissioning Editor for Sport, Joe Blake-Turner.
As part of the PFL’s increasing commitment to the UK market, the league has created the inaugural PFL Scholarship initiative with a mission to create more opportunity for talented but underprivileged male and female mixed martial artists. The fund will cover the training costs and gym subscriptions for five UK-based athletes over the course of a one-year period. For 2022, the league has partnered with Great Britain Top Team in South London to identify five individuals with high potential who will have the opportunity to train under the tutelage of UK MMA legends Ashleigh Grimshaw and Brad Pickett on a daily basis.
In 2021 PFL concluded a successful third season as six fighters earned world championships and $1 million each in prize money at the PFL World Championship, MMA’s biggest night, on October 27. The league has seen 100 percent audience growth in 2021 and added leading brands to its blue-chip sponsorship portfolio, with more world-class talent and events coming to MMA fans across the globe this year.
Professional Fighters League is the No. 2 MMA company globally and features an elite talent roster with 25 percent of its fighters independently ranked in the top-25 of the world, including 2021 PFL champions Kayla Harrison, Ray Cooper III and Movlid Khaybulaev. With live event coverage in 160 countries on leading distribution platforms, a portfolio of blue-chip brand partners, and backing from major institutional and high-profile individual investors, PFL is accelerating its global expansion to deliver a unique, innovative product to the more than 600 million MMA fans globally.
About Professional Fighters League
Professional Fighters League (PFL) is the fastest growing and most innovative sports league. PFL is the #2 MMA company worldwide and the only with the sports-season format where individual fighters compete in Regular Season, Playoffs, and Championship.
PFL is primetime in the U.S on ESPN and ESPN+ and was broadcast and streamed live worldwide last year to 160 countries with partners including RMC Sport, FPT, Sky Sport, and more. The PFL roster is world-class, with 25% of PFL fighters independently ranked in the top 25 in the world. The PFL proprietary SmartCage data and analytics platform powers real-time betting and provides next-gen viewing experience.
PFL has over two-dozen blue-chip brand sponsors such as Anheuser-Busch, IBM, GEICO, DraftKings, Bose, Socios.com, Air Force Reserve, US Marine Corps, and more. PFL is backed by major investors including Ares Capital, Luxor Capital, Elysian Park Ventures, Swan Ventures, Knighthead, Legends, and several NBA, MLB, and NHL team owners.
MMA is the growth sport of this decade, with 600 million fans worldwide, the youngest audience demo of any sport, and true global revenue streams.
PFLmma.com; Instagram (@PFLmma); Twitter (@PFLMMA); Facebook (/PFLmma)
About Channel 4
Channel 4 is free-to-air and freely available to all of the UK with the UK’s biggest free streaming service, All 4.
Created in 1982, Channel 4 has been a catalyst for the creation of a world-beating production sector in the UK.
Our purpose is to create change through entertainment., by representing unheard voices, challenging with purpose and reinventing entertainment.
Our unique model – commercially-funded but publicly-owned – means that we’re able to offer independent and distinctive, universal content reflecting the interests of different communities across the UK at no cost to viewers.
As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 commissions UK content from the independent production sector and currently works with around 300 creative companies across the UK every year.
