One Winner From Each In-Country Tournament to Earn a Coveted Spot on the 2020 PFL Season Roster and a Chance to Fight for the One Million Dollar PFL Championship Belts
PFL’s Regular Season Begins May 2020 and will be Distributed to 160 countries worldwide, Including ESPN2 and ESPN+ in the United States
NEW YORK (January 29, 2020) – The Professional Fighters League (PFL), the first organization ever to present MMA through a Regular Season, Playoffs and Championship format, is expanding its global footprint on the road to the 2020 season. PFL today announced plans to launch the International Qualifier Series, a fight twice in one-night tournament where top fighters from around the world will compete for a chance to fight in the 2020 PFL season. International Qualifier Series tournaments will take place this February and March in United Arab Emirates, Russia, Germany, Brazil and Australia.
In partnership with top regional MMA promotions from the select international markets, four fighters from each market will compete in a tournament requiring each fighter to fight twice and win twice in the same night to be considered for a PFL contract. On Friday, March 20, the PFL International Qualifier Series featherweight tournament will take place in Abu Dhabi in partnership with UAE Warriors.
“We’re excited to accelerate growth outside of the United States through the International Qualifier Series, a global fight twice in one-night tournament designed to identify and recruit the best MMA fighters from five priority markets around the world,” said Peter Murray, CEO of the PFL. “We look forward to working with UAE Warriors in the Middle East, a region with an affinity for combat sports and an impressive crop of high-caliber fighters. This is a unique challenge, and we’ll see if these athletes have what it takes to fight for the PFL and compete for a title and million-dollar prize.”
The PFL International Qualifier Series live tournaments will be staged and distributed by the PFL’s co-promotion partners in their respective markets. The PFL will distribute the fights outside of those markets with its official broadcast partners in addition to streaming across the PFL Live app and the league’s digital channels on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch.
About Professional Fighters League
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) presents MMA for the first time in the sport-season format where individual fighters control their own destiny, competing in a regular season, playoffs, and championship. PFL’s differentiated format and exciting fights sparked breakout growth for the league. PFL events are broadcast live in primetime on ESPN2 and ESPN+ in the United States and also distributed to 160 additional countries around the world on premium sports networks.
The PFL 2020 Season features elite MMA athletes across six weight classes with each fighter having two fights during the PFL Regular Season in May, June, July, and August. The top eight fighters in each weight class advance to the single-elimination PFL Playoffs in October, where fighters must fight twice and win twice in the same night to advance to the finals. PFL Championship is New Year’s Eve with the winners of each title bout being crowned PFL World Champion of their respective weight class and earning $1 million. Viewers will be delivered next-gen stats never before seen in MMA through the PFL’s proprietary SmartCage™ platform and Cagenomics™ technology.
PFL is backed by an investor group of sports, media, entertainment, and business titans.
For more info visit www.PFLmma.com and follow PFL on Instagram (@PFLmma), Twitter (@ProFightLeague), and Facebook (/ProFightLeague).
