Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

SVG Sit-Down: Why Professional Fight League CEO John Martin Believes Growth Is Inevitable

04/11/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Why Professional Fight League CEO John Martin Believes Growth Is InevitableA global market, quality fighters, and huge fanbase are key factorsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Tuesday, November 4, 2025 - 4:21 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

With cable industry veteran and former Turner Broadcasting CEO John Martin now CEO of the Professional Fight League, it's safe to say that the organization is set to make the right moves when it comes to figuring out its TV and media-rights future. Martin's philosophy is simple ( My focus as CEO has always been how do we grow the value and revenue of a business? ), and his belief that the current fanbase is underserved means he sees PFL in a strong position for future growth. He spoke with SVG at Sportel Monaco last month.

PFL CEO John Martin sees a large runway for growth on a global scale for the MMA organization.

What do you see as the strengths of MMA?

I would speak to TV executives who believed in boxing, but they thought MMA was too dangerous and that someone will die in the ring. I would give people the stats that nobody has ever died in the cage. Also, you drive around Manhattan, and there are 12 MMA gyms and only two boxing gyms. The popularity of MMA is going in only one direction.

Today, MMA is massive, it's global, it has no borders, and it's instantly recognizable. When you put one person against one person, whether it's in a ring or a cage or whatever, people can't look away.

How did you get involved with mixed martial arts?

I started to become a mixed-martial-arts student in my mid 20s, and I did that for almost 15 years. I fought in a lot of amateur tournaments. I followed the UFC since UFC1, and I thought it was so dynamic and so amazing. Fast forward to 2005: I had just become the CFO of Time Warner Cable, and I got a call from UFC founder Dana White, who needed some help with distribution for UFC and people told him I was the only person whose name came up who was in the industry and liked MMA.

Fast forward to this past year, and I'm a general partner in an investment fund. One of my partners is on the board of PFL, and he found out my mixed-martial-arts history and interest and said, Would you mind speaking with Don Davis, who's the founder? He said perhaps you guys can hit it off and maybe you can share your perspective on the industry and PFL and UFC. I said, I'd be happy to do it.

I met Don and really liked him, and I got to understand what he was trying to do at PFL. I shared with him what's great, what's maybe not so great. After the third meeting or so, he said, Would you consider coming in and leading it?

What was your evaluation process in making the decision to join PFL?

There were a few things I had to look at before I would sign on. First, the fighter quality: if you've got bad fights, it's not going to work. And then I wanted to see the quality of the live-TV-production capabilities. And I had to convince myself that UFC was not going to be a global monopolist because if it's winner-takes-all, you're not going to beat UFC anytime soon. And I wanted to look at what the commercial capabilities of the organization were because the organization had grown really fast even though it was only in existence for seven years.

What I found was considerably better than what I expected. On a global fighter roster, 40% of our fighters are ranked top 25 in the world in their weight class. That's extraordinary. And the event-production capabilities are quite good. I found out who the producers were, and they are legends in their respective categories.

[On] the global-monopoly question, I said, well, between UFC and PFL, who are the largest premium MA companies, there are only 80 events a year. Compare that to the number-one sport, the world sport: thousands of professional soccer games. Looking at the growth in the category and the commercial opportunities, I felt there's no way UFC is going to be a global monopoly because the world is a really big place. How many opportunities do you have where your addressable market is the world with no borders and a sport has the third-largest fanbase in the world and is instantly recognizable.

What is the status of your rights deals?

2026 will be the last year of our deal, and now, with the UFC/Paramount deal having been signed, I think there are arguably more potential bidders for rights in the U.S. than there has ever been, because everybody's got sports ambition and some of the traditional buyers are splitting rights into two. We're a global league, and we own all of our IP from the top of the funnel all the way through to the bottom.

There are only six global leagues in the world that have that control over all their IP, and they happen to fall into two categories: driving and fighting. In driving, there is F1, NASCAR, and Moto GP; in fighting, there's UFCW, WWE, and PFL. And five of the six are worth easily billions of dollars each and are owned or controlled by a single shareholder. The only one that is not is the Professional Fighters League.

What do you see as your competitive advantage?

Right now, we have an elite production capability as we put on fights in 11 countries on four continents. We're the first to put on an event in France, the first one to be in Saudi, and the first one to be in Africa. But it's the quality of our fighter roster that no one is going to be able to replicate.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/11/04/svg-sit-down-why-professional-f...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

11/12/2025

ESPN's Aims for Spectacular With Heisman Trophy Show

ESPN's Aims for Spectacular With Heisman Trophy ShowEvent firsts include 1080p HDR production airing on both national broadcast and cableBy Dan Daley, Audio...

11/12/2025

SVG Students To Watch: Frankie Patton, University of Colorado

SVG Students To Watch: Frankie Patton, University of ColoradoThe 2025 grad is hitting the ground running as a PA on national broadcastsBy Brandon Costa, Directo...

11/12/2025

SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 3

SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 3By SVG Staff Thursday, December 11, 2025 - 7:24 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story Highlights The 2...

11/12/2025

SVG Sit-Down: What Makes Gen Z, X, and Y Fans Tick? Dave Gavant of WSC Sports Goes Inside the 2025 Fan Engagement Survey

SVG Sit-Down: What Makes Gen Z, X, and Y Fans Tick? Dave Gavant of WSC Sports Go...

11/12/2025

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: 5G, MXL, Spectrum Loss, and Outerspace on Tap for Tuesday Tech Talks'

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: 5G, MXL, Spectrum Loss, and Outerspace on Tap for Tues...

11/12/2025

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: David Levy, Turner Titan and Master of All Sports-Media Trades

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: David Levy, Turner Titan and Master of Al...

11/12/2025

SVG Launches Follow the Money' Podcast: Go Inside the Sports Media Biz with Sam McCleery and John Kosner

SVG Launches Follow the Money' Podcast: Go Inside the Sports Media Biz with...

11/12/2025

A Deep Dive Inside Game Creek Video's Bird and Magic Mobile Units, Home to Amazon's NBA on Prime Video'

A Deep Dive Inside Game Creek Video's Bird and Magic Mobile Units, Home to A...

11/12/2025

How Sound Effects for Monsters Funday Football' Emulated the Sonic Soul of Monsters, Inc.'

How Sound Effects for Monsters Funday Football' Emulated the Sonic Soul of ...

11/12/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: CSP Mobile Productions' Len Chase on Upgrading Truck Fleet to 1080p, HDR, and ST 2110

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: CSP Mobile Productions' Len Chase on Upgrading Tr...

10/12/2025

Sound-Alike Commercials Are Part of Sports' Soundtrack

Sound-Alike Commercials Are Part of Sports' Soundtrack Johnny Cash for Coca-Cola is the latest in a long litany of sonic approximationsBy Dan Daley, Audio ...

10/12/2025

Immersive Sound Is Logical Next Step for Sports Venues

Immersive Sound Is Logical Next Step for Sports VenuesSound-systems suppliers are sanguine, but the market has its challengesBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor Wednes...

10/12/2025

The Romans Built Arenas for Immersive Sound 2,000 Years Ago

The Romans Built Arenas for Immersive Sound 2,000 Years AgoThe historic Arena of Nimes in France is still in use todayBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor Wednesday, De...

10/12/2025

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Audio Workshop Hits on Immersive, Virtualized, and Next-Gen Streaming Workflows

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Audio Workshop Hits on Immersive, Virtualized, and Next...

10/12/2025

SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview: Audio Spotlight

SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview: Audio SpotlightBy SVG Staff Wednesday, December 10, 2025 - 8:21 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story Highlig...

10/12/2025

SVG Europe Audio: Listening to the Sounds of Powder and Ice at Milano Cortina with a Behind the Scenes Tour of OBS and NBC's Audio Set Ups

SVG Europe Audio: Listening to the sounds of powder and ice at Milano Cortina wi...

10/12/2025

Advancements in Audio Technology: Capturing the Atmosphere of Live Sports

Advancements in audio technology: Capturing the atmosphere of live sports By David Davies Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 09:27 Print This Story Although wor...

10/12/2025

Everything Smelled of Popcorn: The Art of Bringing the Complex Sound of Esports to Fans With Sound Supervisor Matt Gilbert

Everything smelled of popcorn: The art of bringing the complex sound of esports ...

09/12/2025

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Pam Oliver, Sideline Icon Who Redefined the Role

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Pam Oliver, Sideline Icon Who Redefined t...

09/12/2025

SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 2

SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 2By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. Tuesday, December 9, 2025 - 7:17 am Print This Story | Subscr...

09/12/2025

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Cloud Production Workshop Spotlights Live and Non-Live Workflows in the Cloud

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Cloud Production Workshop Spotlights Live and Non-Live ...

09/12/2025

Next-Generation Content Protection: Multi-Technology Security is Integral to Combating New Threats

Next-generation content protection: Multi-technology security is integral to com...

09/12/2025

CBS Sports Provides One-of-a-Kind Production' for UEFA Champions League Crossover Event

CBS Sports Provides One-of-a-Kind Production' for UEFA Champions League Cro...

09/12/2025

Spanish Professional Basketball League Relies on NETGEAR AV, MAM Tech for Seamless Production

Spanish Professional Basketball League Relies on NETGEAR AV, MAM Tech for Seamle...

09/12/2025

SVG Sit-Down: St. Thomas's Mike Gallagher and Casey Eakins on the Tommies' Bold Leap to Division I and How Video Plays a Key Role

SVG Sit-Down: St. Thomas's Mike Gallagher and Casey Eakins on the Tommies...

09/12/2025

Free Registration for the 2025 SVG Summit Closes Today at 5 p.m. ET!

Free Registration for the 2025 SVG Summit Closes Today at 5 p.m. ET!After the deadline, tickets will cost $150 to attend the eventBy SVG Staff Tuesday, Decemb...

09/12/2025

University of St. Thomas Ushers in Division I Era With New Arena and a Broadcast Operation Built for the Big Time

University of St. Thomas Ushers in Division I Era With New Arena and a Broadcast...

08/12/2025

SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 1

SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 1By SVG Staff Monday, December 8, 2025 - 6:56 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story Highlights The 2025...

08/12/2025

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Bill Rasmussen, the Entrepreneur Who Dreamed Sports Into a New World

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Bill Rasmussen, the Entrepreneur Who Drea...

08/12/2025

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Live Production Innovation Workshop Goes Deep on ST 2110, MXL, AR/XR, and More

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Live Production Innovation Workshop Goes Deep on ST 211...

08/12/2025

#GALSNGEAR Announces East, West Leadership Retreats for 2026

#GALSNGEAR Announces East, West Leadership Retreats for 2026By Ken Kerschbaumer Monday, December 8, 2025 - 9:10 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story High...

08/12/2025

MediaKind Acquiring Harmonic's Video Business to Create New Streaming-Video Heavyweight

MediaKind Acquiring Harmonic's Video Business to Create New Streaming-Video ...

08/12/2025

Platinum White Paper: Sony HDR/SDR Camera Shading Techniques for Live Production Applications

Platinum White Paper: Sony HDR/SDR Camera Shading Techniques for Live Production...

08/12/2025

SVG Sit-Down: NESN's Kenny Elcock and Harmonic's Jean Macher Talk Next-Gen Distribution for Live Sports

SVG Sit-Down: NESN's Kenny Elcock and Harmonic's Jean Macher Talk Next-G...

08/12/2025

Monsters Funday Football,' ESPN's Latest Live Animation Effort, Advances the Altcast Art Form Again

Monsters Funday Football,' ESPN's Latest Live Animation Effort, Advances...

08/12/2025

SVG Sit-Down: ESPN Director Jeff Nelson on Calling the (Animated) Action on Monsters Funday Football'

SVG Sit-Down: ESPN Director Jeff Nelson on Calling the (Animated) Action on Mon...

08/12/2025

Monsters Funday Football': Louisiana Philharmonic Delivers Again With Orchestral Mashup of MNF' Theme and Monsters, Inc.' Score

Monsters Funday Football': Louisiana Philharmonic Delivers Again With Orches...

05/12/2025

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and Regionally

2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...

05/12/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio Data

SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...

05/12/2025

Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Scalable Production System with Ross Video

Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...

05/12/2025

Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD Split

Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...

05/12/2025

FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championship

FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...

05/12/2025

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the Future of the Viewer Experience

SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...

05/12/2025

Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast for World Cup Draw

Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...

05/12/2025

As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ever

As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...

05/12/2025

ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows for Championship Week

ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...

04/12/2025

SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be a Game-Changer for Live Sports Production

SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...

04/12/2025

SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Content & Strategic Communications, Harvard University

SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...

04/12/2025

Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Sports Storytelling

Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...

04/12/2025

London to Riyadh: DAZN Brings the Boxing Glamour to New Production Levels for Benavidez v Yarde in Saudi Arabia

London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...