“I wish PFL would get their s–t together,” former Bellator and UFC star Josh Thomson exclaimed on his ‘Weighing In’ podcast with legendary referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy. And it did seem like pretty good advice. Since acquiring Bellator in a blockbuster deal two year ago, the PFL has been accused of bad management and promotion. A slew of Bellator’s biggest stars like Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire and Gegard Mousasi have expressed open discontent about not getting dates or facing a communication blackout from the promotion.

Former two-division Bellator champions ‘Pitbull’ and Mousasi have even left the promotion for greener pastures. So when Thomson gave some tough love to the PFL, despite being a commentator for Bellator, most MMA fans were on board. But not Bellator lightweight star Paul Hughes, who fought Usman Nurmagomedov for the title in January and has emerged as one of the promotion’s biggest stars because of the Usman fight and his recent feud with Conor McGregor. No, ‘Big News’ Hughes took great exception to Thomson’s criticism and wrote a long post defending the PFL.

“The @PFLMMA have provided me the platform to completely change my life and my career in 9 months. The staff have been absolutely amazing to deal with the entire time. I find it disappointing that it has become a trend to hate on them. They are the UNDERDOGS, fighting to make a CHANGE in an industry where the athletes are under served and underpaid. MOST of us fighters end up leaving the game with no money (and a lot of brain damage). This will only change if organisations like PFL continue to succeed. Thankyou @PFLMMA,” Hughes wrote on X.

To be fair to Thomson, he was talking about the promotion in general and its recent controversies, not about individual fighters. Some, like Hughes, have indeed done very well for themselves, despite the recent turbulence. However, at a more macro level, the promotion is clearly doing something wrong.

Why else would some of its biggest stars come out so publicly and vocally against the promotion? But what exactly did Thomson say that made Hughes shoot off such a lengthy X post?

Josh Thomson excoriates the PFL brass

“The bottom line is we need another promotion. We need another promotion that has access and can build upcoming talent. I don’t know if they [the PFL] can build it,” Thomson said. Indeed, the biggest issue with the MMA landscape is that the UFC has a virtual monopoly. While promotions like the PFL and ONE Championship do exist, in terms of popularity, revenue, and indeed MMA fighter quality, the UFC is leagues ahead.

The other pressing issue with the UFC is that it is widely accused of underpaying its fighters. Most fighters are willing to take less money for the prestige that comes with fighting in the UFC since that is, by far, the biggest stage in all of combat sports at the moment.

But the PFL bungling up by being unable to provide its fighters with enough dates and bleeding talent has put the prospects of a real alternative emerging in jeopardy. However, according to Thomson, all was not lost. The PFL could still turn things around if there is a change in the top brass.

“Mike Kogan is there so, I know that there’s a potential for the athletes to be built. Do I have faith in [PFL Chairman] Donn Davis and [PFL CEO] Pete Murray? I have absolutely no faith in them in being able to get the job done. They don’t watch the sport, they don’t know the sport, they don’t know their athletes,” Thomson declared. What do you think about Paul Hughes’ response to Josh Thomson bashing the PFL brass?