The Professional Fighters League (PFL), the US-based mixed martial arts (MMA) series, has today announced a media rights deal with Sub-Saharan African pay-TV broadcaster SuperSport.
The deal covers both the PFL season as well as action from Bellator, the former rival MMA promotion that PFL took over late last year.
Coverage began this past weekend as SuperSport aired the opening event of the 2024 PFL Europe season when Cedric Doumbe took on Baissangour Chamsoudinov at the Accor Arena in Paris.
Through the partnership, all PFL programming – including live coverage of PFL PPV Super Fights, PFL Europe, and newly announced PFL MENA – will be available across SuperSport channels in the region.
The promotion is set to launch its third international league – PFL Africa – in 2025 through an exclusive global strategic partnership with MMA star Francis Ngannou, who will be an equity owner in and chairman of PFL Africa.
James Frewin, senior vice president of international for PFL, has said: “Sub-Saharan Africa represents a priority market for the Professional Fighters League as we continue our rapid global expansion.
“We’re thrilled to partner with SuperSport so viewers across the region can watch premium PFL and Bellator MMA content all year round on SuperSport.”
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By GlobalDataPFL has secured several international broadcast deals in recent weeks, including with Globo in Brazil, U-Next (Japan), DirecTV (Latin America), and Nova (Czech Republic and Slovakia).
In January, meanwhile, the league agreed to a tie-up in France with streaming service DAZN.
In its home US market, the series is shown by major sports network ESPN and its ESPN+ streaming service. In total, PFL has 20 media distribution partners and is broadcast and streamed in 150 countries.