Donn Davis Talks 2025 PFL World Tournament Changes, Upsets And More

The Professional Fighters League is in the early stages of its 2025 World Tournament. This week, the promotion is in Orlando, Florida, for Week 3 of the tournament, which features the first-round matchups in the middleweight and lightweight divisions. Three former PFL tournament winners are involved in this week’s event. PFL founder and chairman Donn Davis answered some questions about the current PFL Tournament ahead of Friday’s event, which ESPN will carry live.

The first two events of the 2025 PFL World Tournament took place on April 3 and April 11 at Universal Studios in Orlando. That site also hosts the upcoming April 18 event. Unlike the first two cards, which streamed on ESPN+, the PFL World Tournament 2025 3 fight card will be carried on ESPN proper while also streaming on ESPN+.

Davis told Forbes he is happy with the viewership numbers of this year’s first two fight cards, “Yes, we’re very pleased,” said Davis. “Across our global media partners, digital platforms, we have seen a significant uptick from last season, and it shows that fans are responding to the fresh look of the PFL World Tournament and the stakes that surround each fight.We also have seen that MMA fans viewing habits are now heavily streaming-focused, and we are seeing growth there.”

In previous years, the PFL moved things around for its first-round events, hosting the fight cards in different cities. This year, the promotion decided to hold its first four events in the same location, Universal Studious in Orlando, Florida, before hitting the road for the future rounds of the tournament.

“By holding the first round of our 2025 World Tournament at Universal Studios Florida, we’ve created a high-quality production environment to launch this historic change in our format,” Davis said of staying in Florida for the first round. “This residency streamlines our logistics, enhances the global broadcast, and gives us a controlled setting that allows us to put on our best product.”

The decision to hold the first-round events in one location was not the only change the PFL made heading into the 2025 PFL World Tournament. One of the more attention-grabbing changes was the prize for winning the tournament went from $1 million to $500,000.

“Let’s be clear: $500,000 is still the highest tournament prize in MMA today,” said Davis. “And in 2025, through the $20 million total prize pool, we’re investing more broadly across fighter pay, including higher base purses and performance incentives. It’s about creating sustainable careers. Our model puts more fighters in position to earn more, more often. That’s real progress for the sport.”

The first two events of the year have seen upsets and weight misses, knocking some of the early betting favorites from the tournament; this is something the PFL has taken in stride and perhaps expected and even looked forward to in the case of the upsets.

“This is the beauty and the brutality of a world tournament. You’ve got to make weight. You’ve got to win. No politics. No picking and choosing opponents. It’s win or go home,” said Davis. “While unfortunate, it also creates room for new stars to emerge and showcases the depth of global talent in our roster. That’s what makes our format so compelling. You’ve already seen upsets also, like Ekaterina Shakalova from Ukraine, or Justin Wetzell, who was the biggest betting underdog I can remember. You never know what will happen.”

The 2025 PFL World Tournament 3 fight card takes place on Friday, April 18. We will have live results for both the prelims and main card. Prelims begin at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN+, while the ESPN main card starts at 7 p.m. ET.

2023 light heavyweight tournament winner and 2024 PFL 2105-pound tournament finalist Impa Kasanganay vs. former Bellator title middleweight title challenger Fabian Edwards headlines Friday’s event. Also on the main card is the winner of the 2024 lightweight tournament, Gadzhi Rabadanov, who faces former UFC fighter Marc Diakiese. 2022 welterweight PFL tournament winner Sadibou Sy is also part of the main card. He faces Dalton Rosta.