Professional Fighters League (PFL) is a global powerhouse in MMA and the fastest-growing sports league world-wide. PFL has five live fight franchises, offering year-round content: PFL League Season, PFL PPV Super Fights, PFL Challenger Series, PFL International Leagues, and Bellator.
Donn Davis is the Chairman and Co-Founder of the Professional Fighters League and Founding Partner of Revolution. Donn is a proven investor, entrepreneur, and company-builder in media, digital, gaming, and sports. Together with Steve Case, he co-founded Revolution in 2005, a Washington DC based venture capital firm with $1.5 billion under management. Donn served as Managing Partner of the Revolution Growth funds, investing in disruptive media, digital, gaming, and sports companies such as DraftKings, Sportradar, CustomInk, BigCommerce, and Scopely. Donn is co-owner of Team Liquid, the most winning e-sports team in history and two-time ESPN e-sports Team of the Year. Previously, Donn served as Chairman and CEO of Exclusive Resorts, building the pioneering sharing economy company from start-up to market leader with over $1 billion of vacation home assets. Donn was a senior executive at America Online during the formative period of the consumer internet, including serving as the President/COO of the AOL Interactive Properties Group, where he managed 7 hyper-growth internet businesses and 1,000-person team.
Q: What are the characteristics of the great entrepreneurs?
[Donn Davis] I’m not one of them, but I’m fortunate to have worked closely with many great entrepreneurs over my 35-year career as a venture capitalist backing entrepreneurs and as an entrepreneur building companies. I have a good idea of the common traits that most great entrepreneurs share.
Persistence. Relentless. Resilient. Creative. Think Different. Solutions. Above all, great entrepreneurs have completed and undivided commitment to their company and doing what it takes to make it successful. Building any new major company is much harder than most realize, so if requires a very high pain threshold – great entrepreneurs are so tough mentally and emotionally.
Over my career, I invested in a dozen companies with exits of over $1b and an additional five companies with exits over $10b. THOSE are great entrepreneurs and all of them shared the traits I outlined above.
Q: What does the concept of success and failure mean to you?
[Donn Davis] This answer has changed over time. To be candid, early in my career, success meant making money. Achieving financial success is what drove my early career. The day I cashed my first huge stock option package, my first thought was what my Dad’s wise advice: “success is working on things important and valuable to you with people you like and respect.”
So that became my new definition of success. Since I became financially independent, I work on things that I find interesting and where I can have impact. I like to build new things and work with positive people. I actually work harder the past 15 years than the first 15 years and I am more emotionally tethered to my work.
Q: What was the opportunity you saw in MMA to start your company Professional Fighters League (PFL)?
[Donn Davis] I saw clear data and trends that a second premium global MMA company should exist. With 650 million global fans, MMA has the third biggest worldwide fanbase (after soccer and basketball). However, those MMA fans are very under-served and very under-monetized. Soccer has 5,000 games and $30b revenue and basketball has 2,000 games and $25b revenue. MMA had only one premium provider in UFC with just 50 fights and $1b revenue.
My vision was simple – new MMA company with a differentiated product and unique strategy to capture the large markets ignored or underserved by UFC. Obviously, executing my vision was very hard. It has taken all my experience, expertise, reputation, and network of relationships to build PFL.
Q: How did you differentiate PFL from UFC?
[Donn Davis] As I mentioned, PFL is capturing large market ignored or underserved by UFC. To do that, PFL created and executed differentiated product, unique International strategy, and innovative business approach.
Our differentiated product is the “win and advance” format. This is the same meritocracy that all sports (other than combat) are built on. PFL is athlete driven company versus UFC is promoter driven company. In the PFL, fighters control their own destiny and have clear path to what they want – become champion and collect $1m bonus. The PFL World Tournament single elimination format has resulted in PFL having U.S. viewership 2x MLS and 40% of UFC. In the PFL all fights are “Game 7” and these high stakes create stars and authentic stories.
Our unique international strategy is to super-serve the 550m of 650m MMA fans that are OUTSIDE of the United States. UFC is U.S. focused, PFL is international focused. PFL aims to be the “Champions League of MMA” with its 6 international regional leagues. PFL Europe, PFL MENA, and PFL Africa are operating. PFL LATAM, PFL Asia, and PFL Australia will be launched in the coming few years. Each of these has the best regional fighters, with all events in region, and available viewing at local prime-time.
Our innovative approach to business comes from my 35 years of building numerous disruptive companies. We think different, we continually innovate, we look to all industries for new ideas, and we are not arrogant. We want everyone who is interested in MMA to do business with PFL and find it to be the best deal they have done.
Q: How do you lead or manage your fighters?
[Donn Davis] I have so much respect for MMA fighters. They are the best athletes in the world. More than that, they are also the most humble and respectful athletes I have ever been around. They deeply care about their sport, their performance, their opponent.
I’m also a fighter – I’m fighting to build PFL. I’m all-in on PFL, just like they are. I have the world say my company is no good or won’t succeed, just like they deal with negativity and doubters. I get exhausted and feel pain, just like they do. So I can appreciate the sacrifice and journey they are on to become champion.
I am very proud for PFL to provide fighters tremendous opportunities that never existed before outside of the UFC. The most important thing in life is opportunity and that is what PFL provides fighters – go as far as you can go. Sometimes, an Individual fighter is not happy (fighters can be outspoken and critical), but my job as PFL Chairman is to look out for what is best for ALL our fighters COLLECTIVELY. PFL has been the most important positive change in the market for MMA fighters overall in over a decade.
Q: What is the investment case for combat sports and PFL specific?
[Donn Davis] Sports are the most valuable content and intellectual property in the world. MMA is the fastest growing sport and has the best business model in sports. MMA is only 35 years old, and the next youngest major sport of basketball is mature at 80 years old.
What most US investors do not understand (yet) is that MMA is soccer – both have 85% of the audience international and 50% of the revenue international. The result is NO monopoly will exist in MMA like there is for the “US only” sports of NFL, MLB, etc. Soccer has 8 leagues worldwide that divide the $30 billion of annual revenue – with Premier League the largest with $10b and MLS the smallest with $2b.
UFC is worth $15b (2025) and on path to $25b value (2035). PFL is the ONLY other premium global MMA company. PFL is capturing markets ignored or underserved by UFC with our differentiated product and unique strategy. PFL position, platform, and assets will never again be replicated in MMA. PFL can certainly be $5b-10b company over time, and our last round of capital valued the company at $1b.
Q: What does legacy mean to you?
[Donn Davis] Those who did business with me would do it again – they made money, they were proud of the company, and they knew I gave it everything I’ve got.