PFL’s unique season-to-playoff schedule is reportedly coming to an end.
The promotion will make significant changes to how it operates in 2025, leaving behind its past 10-event format for a more traditional grand prix setup, per a report from Drake Riggs of Uncrowned.
For six seasons, beginning and 2018 and continuing up until last year, PFL ran a schedule which saw fighters in each weight class look to earn points through a regular season before making a playoff bracket.
A division of 10 fighters would compete twice in the first part of the year, earning points from victories to determine their place in the standings. Later in the year, the top four fighters from a weight class would form a single-elimination bracket, competing twice more and determining a champion in the grand final.
The format, which looked to translate the traditional U.S. sports schedule seen in basketball and baseball over to MMA, is not expected to survive for another year. While there are few details regarding what the 2025 format will be, reportedly eyeing a “grand prix-style” tournament would suggest that a simpler single-elimination bracket might be offered by the promotion next year.
The change to PFL’s structure eliminates what has been a large part of the promotion’s identity for years. While UFC and competitor brands like Bellator simply offered “Fight Night” style cards, PFL attempted to sell a presentation of the sport which was unlike any other.
In 2024, shortly after acquiring Bellator and bringing many of their top fighters into the season format, PFL promoted that “The toughest test in MMA just got tougher,” flaunting how the year-long schedule offered a challenge unlike anything else in the sport.
Along with the 10-fight schedule that PFL has used for years, another defining characteristic of the promotion is set to change this year: Its lucrative $1 million championship payouts.
A championship winner in 2025 will be paid a flat fee of $500,000 for winning the bracket, per contract details first reported by Al Zullino and later also confirmed by Uncrowned.
Previously, a winner of a PFL tournament championship was paid an amount that would round up their annual earnings to $1 million. This meant, that if a fighter had earned $200,000 from their three prior MMA fights earlier in the season and playoffs, for example, the grand final championship win would give them $800,000.
The new championship payment is no longer tethered to a fighter’s earnings earlier in the year, but instead the same cash reward no matter who wins. Due to the grand prize being $500,000, in many cases this likely means a smaller overall earning in the year for a champion.
PFL had for years embraced the $1 million payouts, most notably doing photo-ops with a fighter holding a massive check in the cage following each championship win.
Recording artist Wiz Khalifa, a celebrity who holds part ownership of the PFL, released the song “Million Dollar Moment” in 2021 to promote the tournament’s massive grand prize for fighters. Just a few years later, it seems as if the song will hold little relevance.
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