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.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
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 
