PFL founder Donn Davis thinks the UFC is in for a huge payday after its current broadcast deal with ESPN comes to an end. The Dana White-led promotion signed a $1.5 billion, seven-year deal with the world’s biggest sports broadcaster back in 2018 that will come to an end in 2025.

And the UFC CEO has revealed that there are multiple parties interested in getting its broadcast rights. Davis feels that the exploding popularity of MMA over the past few years and the massive change in the media landscape with the rise of streaming services has put the UFC in an excellent bargaining position for a new deal.

“Well, now that [UFC] deal’s coming to the market. And everybody who has a streaming asset is gonna bid. It’s going to be five bidders now for the UFC deal in 2025. So it’s interesting that you got five major bidders who said five years ago ‘MMA niche.’ Now, MMA mass. ‘MMA I don’t know how it gonna work.’ Now MMA is a big deal. ‘Streaming, I’m not starting yet.’ Now streaming is my whole future,” Davis told The Front Office Sports YouTube channel in a recent interview.

Davis predicted an impressive $8 billion, ten-year deal for the UFC, which would mean the Las Vegas-based promotion will almost quadruple its current $214 million annually that it gets from ESPN. Assuming of course, that the UFC keeps all its events under one umbrella, which is not a sure thing.

“So UFC is going to five big offers, it’s going to be $8 billion over 10 years… Their entire package will be $800 million a year if you take their media plus their pay-per-view. Remember they have 50 events a year… 15 pay-per-views, 35 on media,” Davis added. But why is the founder of the UFC’s biggest competitor so enthusiastic about the MMA juggernaut being set for a potentially huge deal? Well because a rising tide lifts all boats, including the PFL.

PFL founder happy Dana White and Co. have made the sport so huge

The PFL also has a broadcast deal with ESPN, which according to Davis ends in January 2026. And since only one or two media companies can make a deal with the UFC for broadcast rights, that leaves many potential suitors for the second-biggest MMA promotion in the world. Davis is pretty optimistic that the PFL will be able to strike a deal with at least one of the broadcasters or streaming services because of the inherent strengths of the product.

“‘Can I get in MMA because it’s a top performing sport for young people and it’s the growth sport, and you guys are half the audience, and you guys have a more innovative product and the sports season format’s pretty cool… Advertisers I can sell that a little bit more easily… I like that I can make money on that,'” Davis said, paraphrasing how he thinks a potential broadcaster will approach the PFL.

Of course, the PFL is nowhere near as big or as popular as the UFC at the moment. After all, MMA and UFC are interchangeable terms at this point, but the PFL is making is making big strides. It acquired Bellator (which was previously the second-biggest MMA promotion in the world) last year and has signed some big names like Francis Ngannou and Jake Paul, who are likely to help boost its profile over the next two years.

And by the time the PFL is in the market for a broadcaster, it may well be big enough for potential nine-figure annual deals. At least that is what Donn Davis seems to be hoping for. What are your thoughts on the PFL founder’s predictions?