Fight Facts: PFL 2024, a Year in Review

The Professional Fighters League incorporated some of its newly acquired Bellator MMA assets to make for some striking tournaments this year. In 2024, the PFL featured more pay-per-view events than ever, a veritable invasion from Russia and the CIS and a bona fide breakout star.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS IN 2024: 202
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS IN 2024: 18
Knockouts: 23
Technical Knockouts: 45
Submissions: 41
Decisions: 91
Draws: 1
No Contests: 1

And More Next Year: After canceling its Challenger Series and introducing a tournament for Middle East and Northern Africa, the PFL ended its year with the second-most events ever run with 18. It previously hit that tally in 2022.

Break-Even Point: The PFL put on two pay-per-view cards, doubling its past total, when it ran PFL vs. Bellator Champs in February and then held Battle of the Giants in October. Like its previous paid offerings, fans were charged $50 to watch the matches. Unlike previous seasons, the 2024 Championships event was free-to-watch.

Switching it Up: Breaking a recently established norm, no women’s bouts headlined any of the main season cards. The lone WMMA bout atop a billing came at PFL Europe 2, when Savannah Marshall and Mirela Vargas collided in a 160-pound catchweight contest.

How Many? When combined with the PFL MENA finale, the 2024 PFL Championships event set multiple records for the promotion. In addition to the most bouts on one card (15), PFL also ran 10 title fights, the most for any single event in a major organization. Incredibly, eight of those 10 ended inside the distance.

New Money: At the conclusion of the 2024 PFL season, six new champions were crowned and received $1 million checks. It is one of two years (2022) with no repeat champs since the company switched over to be tournament-based.

A Different Type of Veteran: None of the six champs held any past experience in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, making this tournament is the second (2019) where no winner first competed in the UFC.

The New Kayla: With the organization moving on from a 145-pound women’s bracket, it shifted its focus to women’s flyweight for one of the million-dollar legs. Dakota Ditcheva crushed her way through the competition to claim the giant check and gold belt.

Developing Effectively: Having won the PFL Europe tournament in 2023, Ditcheva now serves as the first main season champ that made her way up through a regional tourney bracket.

Run Through the Jungle: All six of the champions earned four victories to clinch their tournament treasure, something that had never before happened in a PFL tourney. Of those six, Ditcheva and Denis Goltsov procured four stoppages to get there, while Timur Khizriev needed the maximum amount of cage time (70 minutes) to claim the prize.

From Blank Flag to Winning Out: No Americans held PFL belts at the end of 2024, breaking a trend from the past. Four champions hail from Russia, the female fighter comes from Britain while Turkmenistan has a major champion for the first time ever in Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov.

Goltsov Struck Gold: After five tries, Goltsov finally reached the top of the mountain, putting Oleg Popov to sleep in the first round with a triangle choke. He is the only fighter to attempt to win a season on five occasions.

All Eyes on the Prize: In non-tournament action, the PFL put together a pair of “Superfight Championship” matches for its October card in Saudi Arabia. Francis Ngannou crushed Renan Ferreira to claim it at heavyweight, while Cris Cyborg outhustled Larissa Pacheco to pick up this title at women’s featherweight.

Seeds Matter: Half of the No. 1 seeds ended up winning their way to glory, while every one of those top-seeded fighters reached the finals. Shamil Musaev, Goltsov and Ditcheva earned the most points in their respective divisions before prevailing in the playoffs.

All Around the World Statues Crumble for Me: Among the two other tournaments in Europe and the MENA region, eight new tourney titlists emerged. For Europe, Paulina Wisniewska, Florim Zendeli, Lewis McGrillen-Evans and Jakub Kaszuba earned $100,000 for their triumphs—Kaszuba was a repeat winner. In MENA, Abdullah Al-Qahtani, Omar El Dafrawy, Ali Taleb and Mohsen Mohammadseifi prevailed. All eight are eligible for next year’s main tournament, but they are not automatically granted a spot.

Breakout: Including her stint in PFL Europe, Ditcheva has now earned nine wins—all stoppages—under the company banner. She is one of a small number of fighters to start her run with the organization with an undefeated record like this, along with names like Justin Gaethje, Magomed Magomedkerimov and Kayla Harrison.

Body Breaker: Ditcheva now sits two finishes shy of Harrison’s record for the most wins inside the distance among female fighters. The Brit’s body shot stoppage total sits at six, which is as many as every other fighter in World Series of Fighting and PFL history combined.

Guys, Really: Before his first tournament match at PFL 1, Daniel James exceeded the heavyweight limit by a pound. Not to be outdone, Davion Franklin hit the scales at 268.5 pounds—two and a half pounds heavy—at PFL 4. They are the first two heavyweights to ever miss weight with the organization.

Should Lose Her Bellator Title Too: While multiple tournament participants in the regular season, Europe and MENA missed weight, only one did so in the semifinals: Liz Carmouche. She lost a point and the decision to finalist Taila Santos.

Should Have Called First: Ahead of their preliminary contest on PFL 7, both Anthony Ivy and Jaleel Willis missed the welterweight limit significantly. As a result, PFL relabeled the contest as a 173-pound catchweight.

Not Like That in UFC and KSW: Most of the fighters that missed weight this year in the PFL ended up losing their bouts. Only James, Tariq Ismail and Gabriel Braga had their hands raised after failing their weight cut.

Not Paid by the Hour: With a finish rate of around 54% across all tournaments, fighters competing in 2024 nearly tied the PFL record set in 2018.

A Show for All: At PFL Europe 1, Islem Masraf dispatched Mickael Groguhe with a head kick and follow-up punches in 10 seconds. In doing so, Masraf tied for the second quickest finish in company history, with only Cedric Doumbe’s nine-second knockout last year atop the pack.

Back to Dakota: Even as she recorded four knockouts this year, Ditcheva did not finish any opponent before the midpoint of the first round. The fastest stoppage among women came in the finals of the flyweight tourney in Europe, as Wisniewska crushed Valentina Scatizzi with a knee and punches in 20 seconds.

Grant His Request: A first among WSOF and PFL fighters, Jack Grant introduced himself to the promotion at PFL Europe 2 by wrecking Charlie Leary with a slam.

Von Preux, Von Flue, Von Shoe: The speediest submission in the history of both WSOF and PFL took place this year. Daniele Miceli put Yassin Najid to sleep with a Von Preux choke, finishing the job at PFL Europe 1 in 27 seconds.

Let’s Twist Again: Scotland’s Steven Ray returned from a self-imposed retirement to tap out Lewis Long with an ultra-rare twister at PFL Europe 3. His is the second to come under the PFL banner, and he is also responsible for the first.

Three Shockers Afoot: Thirty-one betting favorites checked in with odds at -1000 or higher, a new record. Of those, 27 won, while Zafar Mohsen at +900 beat Husein Kadimagomedov (-1800) and went on to fail a drug test. Lucas Brennan, Mark Ewen and Ibrahima Mane all closed massively favored and fell short.

You Have PFL’s Sympathies: Of those 31 fights that had odds that lopsided, three combatants did so twice. Ditcheva, Biaggio Ali Walsh and Magomed Umalatov all served as favorites that massive on two occasions, and all three prevailed with ease both times.

Not Much Doubt: Ditcheva and Ben Woolliss—the latter facing a foe with a record of 0-7—each entered into bouts this year as prohibitive -5000 favorites. This astronomical figure is the highest in organizational history.

Negative Nancies: Adding to a limited group of names that includes Dilano Taylor, four fighters concluded the 2024 regular season with negative points due to missing weight. Laureano Staropoli and Davion Franklin each hit the cage once, while Shanna Young and Solomon Renfro had two bites at the apple each.