Donn Davis Reacts to 2023 PFL Championship, Talks Plans For Francis Ngannou, Jake Paul, Cris Cyborg

PFL co-founder Donn Davis talks to MMA Junkie and other reporters following 2023 PFL Championship and discusses the top storylines from the event in Washington, D.C.
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#PFLWorldChampionship #PFL #DonnDavis

[@TheDXJC56]

The best part of PFL last night was the 75 minute breaks between each fight to make sure they stretched 11 fights over a 7 hour broadcast 😴

[@KhaosWestfall]

I like this guy, I hope the PFL is successful.

[@RomanSloppylov]

Comes across as genuine and long term focused. Reasonable in every way except saying he was the co leader already but at least hes promoting. This guy is proper

[@sayville_silver]

Imagine paying $50 for a ppv and the fighters cant even throw an elbow.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Elbows are allowed Einstein

[@mattm8098]

6:40 it seems like they’re really trying to be different but honestly all everyone wants is a single roster under a single promotion so everyone can fight each other. Same rules, same stakes etc

[@nutmegriot209]

6:05 but they're still merging them with the champ vs champ fights. rooting for them & those fighters who broke away. ufc is not how the world should do business

[@sultanicthoughts]

that will happen eventually just bellator has some existing contracts that they cant breach. once those are fulfilled it will be 1 brand like when ufc bought strikeforce

[@juviegull]

Right move from this guy! Triple hhh does not deserve fight vs Cyborg! Larissa Pacheco vs Cyborg is the fight to make!

[@joefrisco8025]

Triple H 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@dano1307]

No elbows sucks. You would have so many more finishes with elbows. I get why they don't want to do it because they fight so much during the season but it is a big difference not having elbows.

[@jessemartinelli]

Love Don daviss

[@michaelwoloszyn2631]

Congrats PFL

[@MrChocheech]

Anyone know where to watch the replay? Nobody even bothered to torrent this

[@sk8terG154]

5 championship fights and they were all horrible. I’m so glad the heavyweight fight had a finish. There were 2 bearable fights on this whole card and they were free on the prelims

[@christosdemitrious449]

The HW fight was the only fight I was interested in Francis NGannou vs Renan Ferreira is a great fight forget Ryan Bader he’s not a true HW

[@Combatsportscoverage]

Pfl should bring in Scot to do all the company interviews he’s the Goat

[@user-ws1gp3gy2j]

Love Don Davies PFL MMA is the future MMA Mark my words congratulations PFL & Bellator ❤🎉

[@fearandsmoking]

Nah

[@troyolsen3840]

😂

[@TheDXJC56]

Found Donn Davis' burner account

[@pauliec1378]

@@TheDXJC56absolutley 😂😂😂😂

[@shashishekhar----]

Hell no

[@richardberry7871]

Scott is the best at interviews bar none.👍

[@conquerowusu5191]

Greatness

[@Kaaashhhhhhh]

Guys let’s be honest, as hardcore mma fans, the PFL structure is super confusing. Just tell us who is fighting and when... in UFC it’s clear who is the champ and what format they’re fighting in

[@lukeh355]

good to see donn's giving john morgan first question too

[@thefunkopopguy]

why does he always get it?

[@denisenoles3159]

​@@thefunkopopguyBecause he was always the first one to show up.

[@thefunkopopguy]

I feel like he’s not the first one there at this point

[@denisenoles3159]

@thefunkopopguy I don't think so either but I was speaking historically.

[@oliverandrews1352]

I'd be someone who watches the likes of Cage Warriors, Bellator, PFL, not just UFC but you can't even deny the quality of the PFL fights is embarrassing. Stop comparing yourself to the UFC. Kayla Harrison couldn't finish her dinner. Ray Cooper has had too many dinners. What I will say is there's guys like Pinedo who I think could do very well in the UFC but the quality difference between the 2 promotions is absolutely hilarious.

[@The_Most_Hye]

100% - if you have a fightpass subscription, you see better fights in regionals every week. PFL product so ass.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

With the merger of the roster pfl/Bellator has many elite fighters that have beaten former and current ufc champs and ranked ufc fighters. Chris Curtis was getting knocked out in pfl, but has a great winning record in the ufc. Shane burgos was 8-3 in the ufc and is 1-2 in pfl. Anthony Pettis left ufc on a winning streak, but got wrecked in pfl. Manon fiorot is undefeated in the ufc and only lost to Bellators Leah McCourt. I have so many examples.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Elbows are now allowed in the pfl.

[@tuffneggah]

don and coker will blight the ship. they are relics

[@RealMattKiefer]

The uniform shit gotta goooooo

[@thomasfroat4668]

Yea, it's too giddy. Fight fans like a guy like Dana who's rough around the edges and speaks his mind. He's more relatable because he talks like most of us. This guy is a typical suit and tie. Lame af

[@sultanicthoughts]

Like this guy. Has a fun professional demeanor. Last nights card was trash. Everyone played it safe. 80% of the fights had a sparring pace

[@Scottm3ucked]

i like this guy aha

[@ethanross3157]

How many ppv buys?

[@BispingOHMYWORD]

20k if lucky 🍀

[@sandman62100]

500K. This event was huge. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. LOVE the PFL!

[@sharkfinsurfchannel]

@@sandman62100 you should have just took a shit if you had to go that bad.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Pfl europe sold out in 20 minutes

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

With this merger pfl/Bellator will build a lot of momentum. Real mma fans should be happy

[@sagarpuri7838]

Let's Go PFL

[@gamebredo8880]

Tbh i am starting to like this promotion but as soon as i heard no elbows,smartcage..im out...peace

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Elbows are banned only in season format.

[@sillynelson1]

If you’re a mid-tier fighter, the PFL is the place to be right now. You could either go to the UFC and get paid 50k a fight and never get close to the title or even being ranked, or you could go to the PFL and possibly win $1 million and be a champion.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Pfl allows fighters to participate in other sports. Also mid-tier? Sorry, but with the merging of roster Pfl/Bellator has many elite fighters including fighters that have beaten former and current ufc champs and ranked ufc fighters. Chris Curtis was getting knocked out in pfl, but is doing well in the ufc. Joaquin Buckley was getting beat in Bellator but is doing OK in the ufc. Manon fiorot is undefeated in the ufc and only lost to Bellators Leah McCourt. Shane burgos ranked in the ufc and was 8-3 in the ufc, but is 1-2 in pfl. Anthony Pettis left ufc on a win streak and has a losing Pfl record. I could go on.

[@sillynelson1]

@@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071 There’s a handful of fighters at the top of PFL and Bellator that could compete in the UFC (Eblen, Nemkov, Mix, Usman) but the vast majority can’t. UFC’s roster is so much deeper its not even comparable. Joaquin Buckely’s an unranked 170 in UFC and KO’d Kasangany who’s PFL 205 champ. Ryan Bader couldn’t get to the LHW belt in UFC, now he’s HW champ in Bellator. Most top 10 UFC fighters could go to PFL and become champ today. Most PFL/Bellator fighters couldn’t in the UFC.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

@Trillkosby False. Outside ufc top 10, the fighters are somewhat above average. Ryan Bader was top 5 in the ufc with a 15-5 record. Benson Henderson was champ in the ufc, went to Bellator in his prime and got destroyed. Eddie Alvarez left Bellator to ufc and won the title. Impa Kasangany was a welterweight in the ufc and fought at lhw in pfl, that's different. Also pfl didn't have even 20% the amount of fighters. Most of my analysis is about Bellator. Paddie pimblet is ranked and got beaten by Bellator's soren bak. Alexander Volkov got starched in Bellator and is ranked number 7 in the ufc. Manon fiorot is undefeated in the ufc and only lost to Bellators Leah McCourt. Magomed Magomedov is in Bellator has a victory over petr yan. Jeremy Kennedy was 3-1 in the ufc and only lost to volkanowski and is in Bellator. Brett johns was ranked in the ufc top 10 with a 5-2 ufc record and is in Bellator, got smashed by Danny Sabatello. Corey Anderson, Phil Davis, and Rumble Johnson(RIP), has wins over former ufc champ Glover texaira. I can give you more. My point is that Bellator has more than a handful of elite fighters that can be against ufc elite fighters. Not saying Bellator is superior. Ufc has the longer list of fighters and the more fighters in an organization the harder it is to win a title based on the number of people trying to get it.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

@Trillkosby In addition, roughly 4 fighters have left ufc to become champ in Bellator, don't count Bader, he was in strikeforce before ufc. In terms of other organizations, Justin Gaetche came from wsof(now pfl) and won the ufc interim title. Jiri came from Rizin and win the ufc lhw title. Eddie Alvarez came from Bellator and won the ufc title. I could add the strikeforce boys like Woodley, Lawler, Cormier etc that came from strikeforce. Leon Edwards came from BAMMA FC and won the ufc title. I could go on

[@sillynelson1]

You’re just cherry picking using MMA math like “this fighter beat this fighter at one point in time, therefore this organization is better.” You’re writing a lot so I’ll slowly go thru and debunk all of it. Ryan Bader was KO’d multiple times in UFC, went to Bellator and became a double champ. Ben Henderson had already lost his belt and was on the downside if his career when he went to Bellator. Eddie Alvarez was one of the few elite fighters outside of the UFC for years then peaked when he finally got there. Impa got KO’d as an unranked MW in UFC, went to PFL and instantly became LHW champ. Paddy is not ranked in UFC, and he’s in his prime now, he got beat before his prime. Manon Fiorot fights at 125 in UFC, Leah McCourt fights at 145 in Bellator. Brett Johns lost 2 in a row in UFC and lost his ranking before going to Bellator. Davis, Anderson and Rumble all had many losses in UFC, then went to Bellator and found success. Rumble’s prime was in the UFC after going to 205 then passed away after going to Bellator. Jiri is another one of the few who was doing well outside the UFC and got fast tracked to a title shot after just 2 fights. Robbie Lawler was a UFC fighter before Strikeforce. Woodley hit his prime in the UFC, same with Cormier. You see, you can’t just use MMA math to prove your point, because I can sit here all day and list all of the current PFL/Bellator fighters who have lost to current UFC fighters. It doesn’t change the fact that the UFC is by far the premier league. Olivier Aubin Mercier was nowhere near the UFC title, then he goes to PFL and wins it back to back. The rosters are not comparable.

[@lukeh355]

Donnathan Davis

[@FaxxsSpeaker]

Shouldn’t allow elbows throughout season bracket but should allow for finals and showcase bouts

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Absolutely

[@sharkfinsurfchannel]

Mix and Elben would leave for the UFC in a second when they get a chance.

[@sharkfinsurfchannel]

@@junipersnow1 they are building up their name. So no. Just like Alvarez,Geathje, and MVP. Why do you think Mix has been talking about Omalley? There's only one way for that to happen. They all want to be in the UFC eventually.

[@fightcompanion]

I'd put a whole 1000 in Cyborg beating Harrison on any given day

[@RomanSloppylov]

Why didnt anyone ask about yamaski

[@AresVaettur]

You didnt get 40% of the viewership of UFC (can't even imagine you have been close), your event was insanely slow, and... please... stop making NFL analogies. "It's like if they changed the rules for the super bowl". No. You changed the rules for the regular season to make it possible to have four fights in a year. The finals should be different and should be the full ruleset, elbows and all. And you said on ariels show that we would get six super bowls on this card (lol). A shame that most of them were Super Bowl 48.

[@mikeybigfoot1354]

I like this guy 😊 hope pfl all the success

[@AlexSierra36]

When you order, Dana White’s Third cousin off wish

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Great value Dana white that won't screw over fighters. Dana white is wish version of Don Davis and couldn't keep Ngannou. 😂😂

[@nam5do]

Who remembers EliteXC and Affliction??? 😂

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

If you love mma you should be happy that pfl/Bellator exists. Also when ufc started people were hating like you, now look at the ufc.

[@AlexSierra36]

He quoted that they did 40% of what UFC did (which is a lie) But even if that’s true, that the PFL will be where the UFC is in 10 years, but the UFC will be beyond NBA levels (based off comparisons and timeline)

[@kiabtoomlauj6249]

In business --- and that's what MMA is, first and last --- you can't make confident projections like that. A few stupid business decisions and much of your company could be down the toilette. Twitter used to be close to $50B as a company; it is now less than half of that in valuation. Staying with the same business man: Elon was once just ONE ROCKET misfiring from going totally bankrupt because Tesla cars were literally piling up in the warehouses and SpaceX's first 2 rockets blew up on the launching pad. That third was the last one, with all of Elon's money in it. If it had blew up too, there wasn't going to be any more money from banks and NASA wasn't working with him.

[@hamzamir15]

The lawsuit will destroy UFC

[@RocknrollaBlitz]

I don't why people stand up for UFC when they threat their fighters like shit unless U are top 3 in your division. It's weird to see people supporting monopoly company and not thinking about fighters and their possibilities and choices. UFC have the best fighters that's true and they make the best fights but UFC is not the best promotion company for fighters who are working they way up. UFC will push their baby's no matter what people say

[@sharkfinsurfchannel]

​@RocknrollaBlitz there are a ton of reasons people leave bellator and pfl and go to the UFC. The only reason they leave UFC and go the other way is because they are old....like Brunson.

[@cjgames4378]

​@@sharkfinsurfchannelfacts

[@alpe6228]

Terrible card all around.OAM literally held on Collard for dear life and waited for the time to run out.They need to feed Renan to Francis so he can get a reality check.

[@joefrisco8025]

Worst pacing i have ever seen on a card. They're getting better at it but it still sucks

[@maded1988]

Get Brendan Loughnane back on the cards!

[@mmamlg]

In UFCs hubris and snubb to Bellator athletes, they fed their enemy, half a new roster. One of the biggest mistakes in MMA corporate history. Awesome for the sport. Good for PFL - overall fighter revenue. Its about time…

[@Combatsportscoverage]

This guy was good got me hyped 👏

[@sayville_silver]

How?

[@mikeybigfoot1354]

1800😂 call me out for a fight

[@rmaurer1982]

Sorry but this will be another company that declares victory after every loss. This is the same thing Scott Coker would do. It comes across hyperbolic. Try the BKFC route. Put together fights that make a person want to tune in and watch your business grow. Declare victory after victory when you are yet to accomplish a thing feels disingenuous and MMA fans will quickly grow old of this.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Nope. Real mma fans are happy to have this company too. Pfl/Bellator will be great

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

We don't want a monopoly with just the damn ufc

[@cjgames4378]

Until the pfl organically builds a star on the level of some of the stars built at the ufc then they can never call themselves an equal. Haters gon hate

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

PFL EUROPE sold out in 20 minutes. They got a legit star in Cedric doumbe.

[@logansapcutt7027]

Wasn't worth the price

[@amp3158]

Honey i shrunk the kids guy

[@COMBAT_-ey8zl]

I don't care for PFL, but I'll keep watching BELLATOR MMA! BELLATOR will win all the fights.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Bellator for life bro

[@UFCFan1996]

This guy doesn’t even believe anything he is saying 😂

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

He believes it and so do I. As a hardcore mma fan I'm happy that we don't just get to watch ufc only

[@sugashow9182]

This man said mix would beat suga?😂

[@nutmegriot209]

he would

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Real talk, mix has a style that is dangerous for suga. Mix is also really big for the weight class. Watch patchy mix fights

[@sayville_silver]

This guys real competition is ONE FC.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

Not really after this merger. Also one championship is not big in America

[@joefrisco8025]

Suuuch a boring card omg. 😴. Pfls gonna ruin these bellator fighters.

[@hybrid.catastrophic.impact6071]

It won't. Things are getting better already

[@Hanashi_mma]

Pfl’s dana white! I like this !

[@thefunkopopguy]

I'm sorry. I JUST CANT TAKE HIS VOICE. nails on the chalkboard. OMG make it stop!!!!

[@sandman62100]

PFL tonight was LIT AF! PFL is Netflix and UFC is Blockbuster. PFL is by far the best promotion in the game. PFL + Bellator = Unstoppable

[@monstermilkman4567]

Said no one ever

[@ryanguilfoile2746]

Smoking that midnight oil eh? PFL has a long way to go.

[@joshuaip4004]

What's up PFL intern!

[@Reyjr77]

Scott cocker what’s up!

[@marcalexander5594]

Hey Donn, nice to see you commenting on ur own interviews