NEW YORK – PFL president Ray Sefo is looking to build on his roster.
The 2019 PFL Championship took place at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, marking one of the biggest shows in the promotion’s short history. Once again, six fighters walked away with world titles and $1 million.
And having recently signed former Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald, Sefo said the goal is to continue to sign some marquee names in the sport.
“(I want to) sign more big name fighters (and) continue to grow,” Sefo said at the post-fight news conference. “But my phone was going off like crazy throughout the show because everybody got to see the PFL show tonight and got to see all the champions get crowned.
“It just goes to show that we’re continuing to grow. And then adding someone like Rory to the mix, the sky’s the limit for PFL – and there’s a lot of discussions with other people that are interested and want to come over.”
Also on the agenda moving forward is the possibility of superfights. Featherweight champ Lance Palmer and lightweight champ Natan Schulte were two names that were brought up as suggestions for a potential superfight, and while only Palmer seemed quite keen, Sefo likes the idea in general.
“There’s a lot in the works for PFL, and those were part of discussions along the way,” Sefo said. “Not necessarily Natan and Lance, but we talked about doing some superfights and whatnot. But that’s part of the plan. Whether it happens next year or the year after that, I’m not sure exactly. But there are discussions in terms of putting on some superfights.”
The ESPN deal was arguably the biggest development for the promotion this year, giving the fighters the largest platform possible, to showcase their skills.
“ESPN has been great,” Sefo said. “I mean, they’ve been a great partner and the fact we’re on ESPN speaks volumes. It just goes to show that – and it sends a message out there – that PFL is here and that we’re alive and well and we’re going to continue to sign some big names and continue to grow.”
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