Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and the Professional Fighters League (PFL) have joined forces with the aim of creating “a combat sports company for the new era”.
The merger will see both organisations join up under the umbrella of MVP, the company cofounded by YouTube star and entrepreneur Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian in 2021.
Boxing has been MVP's primary focus since launching but they spread their wings into MMA in May when Ronda Rousey defeated Gina Carano in just 15 seconds which was shown live on Netflix. The streaming platform would claim that viewership peaked at 17 million globally, making it the most-watched MMA event in history in the US.
“We started MVP to disrupt a broken model,” said Paul in a statement announcing the merger. “We wanted to give fighters fair pay and a bigger, modernised stage to become global superstars.
“Joining forces with PFL accelerates that vision by a decade. We now have a scaled platform to give today's fans what they want: Elite talent mixed with culture, lifestyle, and massive social velocity.
“MVP was always bigger than me and bigger than any one fighter. MVP is an inevitable movement that needs to happen for the athletes, and now we have all the resources we need to build something that changes this sport forever.
“I look forward to putting my entire promotional muscle into our new company, returning to the boxing ring and making my MVP MMA debut. To all current MVP and PFL fighters, things just got bigger.
“To fighters fighting in other organisations, we are open for business when you are contractually free. The time for change is now. Welcome to MVP.”
Paul and Bidarian will be joined on the board by PFL chief executive John Martin with the new company planning to “invest aggressively in both boxing and MMA”, according to the press release announcing the merger which will bring together a roster of nearly 400 fighters.
The PFL was launched in 2018 has hosted events across the globe establishing regional Europe, Mena, Africa and Pacific leagues. It also purchased the rival Bellator series in 2023 with that title was eventually being dissolved with all fighters competing under the PFL brand from 2025.
“Over the past seven years, PFL has built the world's number two global MMA company,” Martin said, “assembling one of the sport’s most elite fighter rosters while creating a world-class global business with premier media distribution across 34 broadcast and streaming partners, reaching fans in more than 170 countries.
“This merger brings scale – in operations, in distribution and media rights, in sponsorship, in fighter development and in fan engagement.
“We're not just combining companies, we're bringing an entire combat sports community together and creating a more powerful platform to accelerate growth.
“One company, one global stage, millions of fans – and we're only just getting started.”
PFL's biggest signing was when Francis Ngannou left the UFC as reigning heavyweight champion to sign a multi-fight deal in 2023, allowing him to compete in other sports, such as boxing – which he did against both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
He would appear in just one MMA fight – defeating Renan Ferreira in Riyadh – with the PFL and was released from his contract in 2025 but was on the Netflix card for MVP's MMA debut in May.
Among the current PFL roster includes the likes of Dakota Ditcheva, Paul Hughes, Usman Nurmagomedov and AJ McKee.
MVP’s most popular events have been Paul’s controversial bout with the then 58-year-old former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson in 2024 and its co-promotion of the Amanda Serrano-Katie Taylor trilogy.
