VICE TV introduced a multi-year broadcasting partnership with the PFL, marking the first-time American tv audiences will entry PFL’s worldwide competitors by way of the community’s in depth cable footprint. The deal establishes VICE TV because the unique linear US broadcaster for ten worldwide occasions starting in December 2025 and persevering with all through 2026, alongside 50 hours of on-demand library content material spanning PFL MENA and PFL Africa programming.
VICE TV and The PFL
The partnership exhibits a major growth of VICE TV’s sports activities technique and underscores PFL‘s speedy international development because the group continues establishing regional franchises past North America. VICE TV reaches greater than 40 million cable and satellite tv for pc properties throughout the USA, offering the platform with substantial distribution capability for the fight sports activities content material. The community has positioned itself as an rising vacation spot for different sports activities programming since launching VICE Sports activities in 2025, a vertical designed to ship stay occasion sports activities and sports-related documentary content material to audiences searching for distinctive storytelling approaches within the sports activities media panorama.
The preliminary broadcast slate consists of two championship occasions scheduled for December. The PFL MENA Championships will air on December 5 from Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, that includes 4 title fights throughout the bantamweight, featherweight, light-weight, and welterweight divisions on the Dhahran Expo venue. The occasion will prominently function Kuwait’s Mohammad Alaqraa defending his welterweight championship standing towards Morocco’s Badreddine Diani, alongside the light-weight ultimate between undefeated Iraqi fighter Mohammad Fahmi and Morocco’s Salah Eddine Hamli. The second broadcast, the PFL Africa Championships on December 20 from Benin, West Africa, will crown the first-ever PFL Africa champions throughout 4 weight divisions following the completion of regional semifinals in Rwanda throughout October.
Peter Gaffney, President of VICE TV, said that the community’s viewers seeks content material that stands aside from mainstream choices. “VICE TV audiences come to us for the high-octane, provocative and compelling content material they’ll’t discover anyplace else, and as we proceed improve our stay sports activities slate, we’re proud to welcome Skilled Fighter’s League to our line-up and provides our viewers and PFL followers throughout the US entry to those worldwide fights for the primary time on tv,” Gaffney mentioned. The partnership aligns with VICE TV’s sports activities programming infrastructure, which already consists of broadcasting commitments to Naked Knuckle Boxing, United Battle League, Area Soccer One, and basketball protection by way of the BIG3 league.
The Skilled Fighters League CEO John Martin, appointed to his place in July 2025, characterised the partnership as a transformational second for international MMA distribution. Martin beforehand led Turner Broadcasting as chairman and CEO from 2014 to 2018 and served as chief monetary officer at Time Warner. His appointment mirrored PFL’s ambition to capitalize on worldwide development alternatives, because the group continues increasing its footprint past the North American market the place it maintains current broadcast agreements with ESPN.
The eight further occasions scheduled all through 2026 will broaden the tv protection of PFL’s worldwide franchises for American audiences. PFL presently operates worldwide leagues in Europe, the Center East and North Africa, and Africa, with plans to launch further regional competitions in Australia and the Pacific area in 2026, adopted by expansions into Latin America and Asia in subsequent years.
The 50 hours of library content material included within the VICE TV settlement offers on-demand entry to archived PFL MENA and PFL Africa fights for cable, satellite tv for pc, and telco distributors. This on-demand element extends the partnership’s worth past stay occasion broadcasts, permitting subscribers to entry historic competitors footage in accordance with their comfort.
VICE TV has systematically constructed a sports activities portfolio since establishing VICE Sports activities, recognizing that male-skewing audiences over-index as sports activities customers and that sports activities programming strengthens relationships with pay tv suppliers in an evolving media panorama.
The Skilled Fighters League’s valuation reached $1 billion in 2025, marking a major milestone for the group since its 2018 inception. PFL founder Donn Davis highlighted the worldwide market alternative, noting that roughly 550 million of the game’s estimated 650 million international followers reside outdoors the USA.
VICE TV famous that the deal aligns with the community’s dedication to storytelling and genuine sports activities protection, whereas PFL highlighted the partnership’s function in bringing regional MMA expertise and worldwide competitors to North American audiences beforehand unable to entry these occasions by way of conventional broadcasting channels.
