At Age 55, He Walked Away From a Massive Venture Capital Firm to Pursue His Sports Dream. Now His Professional Fighters League Is Valued at $1 Billion. Donn Davis, founder, chairman and co-owner of the Professional Fighters League, explains his philosophy for growth where everybody wins.
By Dan Bova
"Ideas are overrated, execution is underrated." So says Donn Davis, founder, chairman and co-owner of the Professional Fighters League. Previously, Davis co-founded and co-led investment firm Revolution for 10 years with partners Steve Case and Ted Leonsis. But when he read the news of the mega sale of MMA giant UFC, Davis left his lucrative position and started building his sports league vision from scratch. Eight years later, the blood, sweat, and tears paid off: PFL is now valued at $1 billion. Here's how Davis went about the launch and growth of his brand and business, which, ironically, did not involve going toe-to-toe with the competition.
Give us the elevator pitch for PFL.
Professional Fighters League (PFL) is March Madness meets MMA. In the PFL, all fighters start the season, and it is a "win and advance" single-elimination format to determine the annual champion. This means PFL is a fighter-driven meritocracy versus the UFC, which is promoter-driven. In just a few years since its founding, PFL has become the no.2 MMA company worldwide by all measures — quality of fighters, global distribution, worldwide audience, fan social engagement, and company revenue.
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What inspired you to create PFL?
I started PFL the day UFC was sold to Endeavor. I read in their press materials that MMA had the third largest global fanbase in sports but was most underserved with just 50 premium fight events from UFC. Compare that to the soccer market with 5,000 matches from 8 leagues that divide the $35b annual revenue. The 650 million MMA fans wanted more premium fight events, and there would be more than one winning MMA company. PFL is not competing with UFC — PFL is capturing the large markets ignored or underserved by UFC.
How does running a league like this differ from other sports?
There are dozens and dozens of top MMA fighters not in the UFC. MMA is not like football, where there are not enough good quarterbacks, or baseball, where there are not enough quality starting pitchers. PFL has recruited and developed a fighter roster that is almost equal to UFC, which has been verified by independent ranking agencies. It's a crazy statistic that most won't believe because the UFC brand is so strong, and the PFL brand is new. When fans watch UFC on Saturday on ESPN or PFL on Friday on ESPN, they are watching equally quality fights and fighters. Francis Ngannou is the number one heavyweight in the world — he is at PFL. Cris Cyborg is the number one woman of all time — she is at PFL. Dakota Ditcheva is the number one rising star in the world — she is at PFL.
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What does the word "entrepreneur" mean to you?
Never give up! Building a $250K local sub shop and $250M SaaS AI company share the same entrepreneurial bond — relentless, resilient, creative, unwavering, and undivided commitment. Total respect for all entrepreneurs.
What's your best advice for upcoming entrepreneurs?
Give, not get. Ask what the other side wants and put together a deal, solution, or partnership that meets their needs. Like Jerry McGuire said, "Help me, help you." Growing up in Cincinnati, I believe in the Midwest "win-win" philosophy. My success has come from being a great partner to others.
