Professional Fighters League has big plans for Korea

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Published: 08 Mar. 2023, 15:44 Updated: 03 Jan. 2024, 17:48

Professional Fighters League has big plans for Korea

Gabriel Barga, right, fights Ago Huskic in the 2023 PFL Challenger Series Week 6 at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida on Friday. [PFL]

The Professional Fighters League (PFL), founded in 2018, is looking to expand in Korea as mixed martial arts gradually grow in popularity here.

The PFL is an American mixed martial arts league in which individual athletes compete in a regular season, postseason and championship. It has six weight divisions: Featherweight, women's lightweight, lightweight, welterweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight.

A total of 72 fighters compete in the league and Jake Paul of the United States, who is better known as a YouTuber, is one of them.

Loren Mack, vice president of corporate communications at the PFL, said during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily that he plans to promote the fighting league more internationally.

The fighting league signed a contract with DAZN — one of the biggest streaming platforms in Europe — in an effort to raise awareness in the region.

“The PFL in Europe will be on March 25," Mack said. "We are essentially creating a champions league around the world in regards to mixed martial arts."

Loren Mack, vice president of corporate communications at the PFL [TAMMY CHAN]

The PFL also recruited Korean fighter Jo Sung-bin, known as the Korean Falcon, in 2019. Jo had previously competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) — the most popular fighting league in the world.

“We are going to continue to recruit the top fighters in the world and from Korea, with Jo Sung-bin being one of them,” Mack said.

Jo will participate in the PFL regular season this year as well.

“He is certainly the athlete to watch. I wouldn’t be surprised if he took on the championship,” Mack said.

The PFL also signed a broadcast contract with the Korean IB Sports last December, guaranteeing its matches to be broadcast in Korea until 2024. The fighting league’s first event is on April 1.

“The Korean entertainment seen around the world is unbelievable,” Mack said. “When we do our events in Korea, which is not a matter of if, but when, we will work with influencers and entertainers and develop the PFL together in Korea.”

Mixed martial arts have earned some popularity in recent years in Korea, with some videos on YouTube going viral here.

“ZombieTrip: Looking for a fighter” by Korean fighter Jung Chan-sung in 2022 — a YouTube series in which people who want to be fighters spar with fighter Park Mun-ho — gained tens of million views.

Korea’s own fighting leagues also emerged in the 2010s, including the Double G FC and the Road Fighting Championship, which helped expand the fighting industry in Korea.

Korea even hosted an UFC event in 2015. The first UFC event held in Seoul was watched by over 12,000 spectators.

The PFL has never held an event in Asia yet, but Mack has repeatedly said that he wants to host one in the region where the mixed martial arts come from.

“We will certainly have an event in Korea. It is a matter of time,” Mack said. “It’s a really interesting market.”

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]