Most Valuable Promotions and the Professional Fighters League have merged, forming a single combat sports company that will operate under the MVP banner. The combined company will bring together boxing, MMA, live events, athlete development and worldwide content distribution under one organization.
The new company will be led by co-founders and board members Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, with John Martin serving as CEO and board member. Bidarian will continue overseeing MVP’s boxing business and its Blockbuster Live Events, while 885 Capital and Knighthead Capital Management are coming aboard as Founding Investors.
Martin To Run Combined Business, PFL Migrating Into MVP MMA
Martin will lead the overall business of the combined company. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of Turner, overseeing TNT, TBS, CNN and Turner Sports, and as CFO of Time Warner. Paul and Bidarian remain co-founders and board members and will stay active in day-to-day leadership.
MVP will serve as the master brand for the combined company’s combat sports properties, with PFL’s roster, league operations and event infrastructure forming the foundation of MVP MMA over the coming months. The combined company plans to stage five premium live events across boxing and MMA in August alone.
Together, the new company will feature nearly 400 athletes, including world champions and title contenders across boxing and MMA. Distribution partners include Netflix, ESPN and Sky Sports, along with PFL’s network of 34 partners spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
A Deal Years, And Months, In The Making
The merger caps a relationship with a complicated recent history. Jake Paul had a prior contractual tie to PFL as a fighter that ended in January when the sides parted ways without him competing under that deal. Since then, Paul built MVP MMA into a rival brand, headlined by Ronda Rousey’s Netflix-streamed win over Gina Carano in May, a card that drew comparisons to the UFC’s own viewership numbers in the weeks that followed.
PFL CEO John Martin had publicly floated working with MVP as far back as late May, telling reporters he’d be interested in a partnership if the terms made sense for PFL, while insisting any collaboration be reciprocal rather than PFL simply lending out its roster. That door opened further as PFL worked through its own leadership churn, including the January departures of founder Donn Davis and former CEO Peter Murray.
Bidarian framed the deal as an acceleration of MVP’s MMA ambitions. “It has been to build the future of combat sports,” he said of the company’s original goal.
Martin cast the merger as a scale play across every part of the business. “One company, one global stage, millions of fans,” he said.
Paul, for his part, said the deal moves up MVP’s timeline dramatically. “We started MVP to disrupt a broken model,” he said, adding that he intends to make his own MVP MMA debut.
Additional details on the combined company’s organizational structure are expected at a later date. PFL’s next event, PFL New York, is scheduled for July 31 on Long Island.
