PFL Chairman: UFC CEO Dana White "Worried" After PFL/Bellator Merger

Does White feel threatened by the PFL's recent purchase of Bellator?

The long-rumored acquisition of Bellator by the PFL has finally been announced, and PFL Chairman Donn Davis believes UFC CEO Dana White might be concerned by the news.

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Founded in 2008, there was a period in time where Bellator was the clear second-place promotion behind the UFC in the overall landscape of MMA. Rumors that Bellator might be up for sale persisted in recent months despite a pair of stacked cards in October and November, and this week it was formally announced that the PFL had acquired the rival promotion.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the day that the news broke, Davis touched on a number of topics and also weighed in on how White might be feeling after he's had to field questions regarding a potential PFL and Bellator merger in recent press conferences.

Unbeaten middleweight champion Johnny Eblen is one of the biggest names on the Bellator roster.  :: (Bellator MMA/Lucas Noonan)

“Everybody knows Dana well enough that he only dismisses things that worry him, or else he just doesn’t comment,” Davis said on The MMA Hour. “He didn’t comment on the PFL for four years, ‘cause he wasn’t worried. He’s commented on the PFL a lot the last six months – [he’s] worried.”

The PFL held its inaugural season in 2018 after the organization was rebranded from World Series of Fighting (WSOF), and this year the promotion has made a major splash in the free agent market by bringing in names such as Francis Ngannou, Amanda Serrano, and Jake Paul.

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Adding Bellator’s roster of fighters will only bolster the PFL’s claim for being the number-two MMA promotion in the world behind the UFC, and Davis fully expects that gap to close even further in 2024.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is expected to debut for the PFL next year.  :: (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

“Our cards are gonna be better [next year]…That’s why [Dana White] said ‘I don’t know why in God’s green Earth anybody is buying [Bellator].’...UFC ain’t the NFL. We’re not the XFL – but he wants you to think that. It’s just a matter of time before that starts to get more well-known and we’re not number two, we’re a co-leader.”

It will certainly take some work to knock the UFC off of its pedestal as the world’s leading MMA promotion, but longtime fans of the sport will note that the PFL's acquisition of Bellator is a move straight out of the UFC playbook.

The UFC famously acquired competitors such as Pride, Strikeforce and WEC in order to get the best talent available as well as eliminate those rival promotions, and although a number of those fighters had tremendous success in the organization those business moves also helped spawn the ongoing lawsuit against the UFC.

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