The MMA world is ever-evolving, filled with stars who shine in their own right. Yet, above them all stands one undisputed powerhouse: the UFC. Unlike boxing, Dana White’s juggernaut has remained the pinnacle of mixed martial arts, setting the gold standard for MMA. While promotions like BKFC and the PFL offer some level of competition, none have truly shaken the UFC’s throne. Interestingly, the PFL is making strides, but their lack of commitment to the U.S. market keeps them at bay. Despite years in the game, their premium international events still fail to air domestically, leaving American fans in the dark.
What happened, you may ask? Well, what if we told you that Paul Hughes—arguably one of the biggest stars the promotion has produced recently—was fighting at PFL Belfast, and his stunning comeback wasn’t even aired in the U.S. markets? Yeah, you heard that right! Donn Davis’s promotion didn’t air the Belfast card back in the US.
For the uninitiated, the headline bout featured Paul Hughes, who was making his comeback to the SmartCage after narrowly losing his title fight against Usman Nurmagomedov at PFL: Road to Dubai for the Bellator 155lbs strap. The Irish star returned to the SmartCage to lock horns with Brazil’s Bruno Miranda, and guess what?
Hughes ended the fight in just 42 seconds, shocking everyone. Not only that, the Irishman even called out his former opponent, Usman Nurmagomedov, in a bid for a rematch. “Usman Nurmagomedov! You can run, you can try to delay this rematch as long as you want, but your day is f——g coming!” All in all, the event, or at least we could say the headlining fight, was a banger, but the US fans couldn’t get a taste of it.
Just occurred to me – via my guy @SalwaniMMA3 – that Paul Hughes’ PFL fight IS NOT AIRING ANYWHERE IN THE US OF A.
How is this possible in the year 2025? Utterly absurd.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 10, 2025
Interestingly, this is not the first time the PFL has halted its broadcasting in the U.S. market for its European events. Back in 2023, the MMA community was curious about this as well. Upon researching, they discovered that the DAZN column for the U.S. was completely empty for PFL events. When fans inquired, the promotion eventually rectified the issue.
The same thing happened again in 2024, and now it’s happened once more. PFL Europe has consistently been out of reach for U.S. viewers, but this time, fans are angry. Let’s have a look at what the MMA community has to say about this complete broadcast blackout!
Prominent voices in MMA called out PFL for its broadcast blackout in the US
UFC’s play-by-play commentator, Ben Davis, took to his X handle to call out the founder of PFL, Donn Davis, for this misadventure, as this is not the first time that the US viewers were shunned by the promotion, “PFL not airing this Paul Hughes fight in the United States is so stupid Guy has a banger fight against 18-0 Usman Nurmagomedov and his bounce-back main event is just….not available? What? Donn Davis better have an explanation on LinkedIn by EOD – shameful!”
TV broadcaster Jason Hagholm also expressed concern over the PFL management’s lack of accountability for blocking U.S. access to important, monumental events taking place in Europe. “I still can’t believe that @PFLEurope events aren’t aired in North America. Paul Hughes is a special talent that chose the @PFLMMA over the UFC. The PFL should do everything in their power to showcase his fights. These blackouts are so 1985.”
It must be noted that this is a rather worse decision from the promotion to block the US markets because, as of April 2025, PFL’s average viewership on ESPN dropped to 193,000, marking a 30% decrease since August 2024. In addition to that, PFL 2 on ESPN 2 averaged just 38,000 viewers, which is concerning for the PFL management.
Renowned MMA Journalist, Ariel Helwani, took to his X handle to raise his confusion about the entire fiasco, “Absolute travesty that didn’t air in America. Shame on the promotion for not figuring that out.”
While the UFC currently dominates the U.S. market, there remains a significant gap in the European market, as the promotion rarely hosts events there outside of England. PFL is aiming to fill this void and is actively making strides to establish its presence in the region. Looking at this, a fan wrote, “PFL just wants to put on a hero show in the European market. They don’t care about North American fans anymore.”
Furthermore, another fan asserted that the event was not there on YouTube as well, “Not even YouTube? PFL has money, they could easily be the AEW of MMA if they literally tried.” This comment was concerning AEW, which is currently the #2 wrestling promotion in the US and has been a viable competitor to UFC’s sister promotion, WWE, ever since it launched in 2019.
PFL has been operating with funding from Saudi Arabia, receiving a massive $100 million investment from SRJ Sports Investments, which acquired a minority stake in the promotion. Since then, the PFL has been on a shaky path. Looking at this, a fan wrote, “pfl doesn’t care abt the fans, just future investors.”
The PFL management has yet to issue a statement regarding this blackout for the U.S. audience. Regardless, what do you think is the reason behind this fiasco? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The post Americans Launch an Attack on PFL as Paul Hughes’ Main Event Shunned in the USA appeared first on EssentiallySports.
