LEAGUE OF PROFESSIONAL FIGHTERS SECURES SERIES E EQUITY ROUND RUN BY WAVERLEY CAPITAL

BASEBALL LEGEND AND BUSINESSMAN ALEX RODRIGUEZ JOINS PFL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

GROWTH CAPITAL TO FUND GLOBAL EXPANSION AND LAUNCH A NEW SUPER FIGHT PPV DIVISION

NEW YORK, May 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Professional Fighters League, the fastest growing and most innovative sports league, today announced the completion of a $30 million Series E round to fund global expansion and launch its new Super Fight PPV division. The Series E funding round was led by Waverley Capital, the media and digital-focused venture capital firm co-led by Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and Daniel Leff. Baseball legend and businessman Alex Rodriguez also invested. Thanks to the funding, the two Alex Rodriguez and Daniel Lef have joined the PFL Board of Directors.

With this new capital, PFL currently has total financing of $200 million blue-chip investors, including Ares Capital, Elysian Park Ventures, Luxor Capital, Knighthead, Legends, Swan Ventures, as well as two dozen sports and media executives and influencers, including Ted Leonsis, Brandon Beck, Mark LernerDebra Cafaro, Ray Lewis and Wiz Khalifa.

MMA is the fastest growing sport and has the third largest fan base in the world with 600 million fans worldwide. PFL is the second-largest MMA company globally by all key metrics, including distribution reach, broadcast and streaming viewership per event, and roster quality. The PFL talent roster is world class, with 25% of fighters independently ranked in the top 25 of their respective weight class, including 2x PFL champions Kayla Harrison and Ray Cooper III, former Bellator champions Rory MacDonald and Julia Buddand former UFC champion Anthony Pettis.

PFL is a global platform company, providing live MMA fight events all year round. The PFL League has the world’s top ranked fighters competing in a schedule of 10 sports season format events, all live in prime time on ESPN and ESPN+. The PFL Challenger Series is an 8-event schedule, where emerging professional fighters compete to win a contract in the PFL League season, and is shown live on FUBO TV. All PFL fight events are broadcast and streamed worldwide to 160 countries via dozens of top-tier media distribution partners.

“While it is clear that sports is the most valuable content and intellectual property in the world, it is also becoming increasingly clear that MMA is the growing sporting activity of this decade,” said the founder and President of PFL. Donn Davis. “The MMA category is on fire, and although the UFC is the first winner in this market, several great value companies will be built, and PFL has obtained the #2 position in the market and is the most valuable company. innovative and most dynamic in MMA.”

“With this new capital, PFL is open for business to sign the world’s biggest star MMA fighters to our new Super Fight PPV division,” said the PFL CEO. Pierre Murray“Just as we changed the game with our league season format, we will now disrupt the long overdue pay-per-view activity to benefit fighters by partnering to make them major contributors to their own fight revenue. .”

“I love the global reach of MMA,” said Alex Rodriguez. “The PFL continues to build and innovate for the fans, the media and the fighters and there is massive demand in the market.”

“Content is still king, and sports content is the king of kings,” said Edgar Bronfman, Jr. Co-founder and co-director of Waverley Capital. “In sports, the rarest content is MMA, and we see PFL as the premier innovative provider for this generation of global fans.”

“PFL is a global platform company that sits at the intersection of all key media and consumer trends,” said Daniel Lef, co-founder and co-director of Waverley Capital. “PFL fights are high action with global athletes, ideal for the streaming and mobile age, and have the youngest demographic in all sports, a perfect fit for sponsors. The PFL SmartCage is data rich , propelling engagement and play, and the company centrally owns all of its intellectual property, allowing it to generate new revenue from NFTs to licensing.”

About the Professional Fighters League

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is the most dynamic and innovative sports league. PFL is the second largest MMA company in the world and the only one with the sports season format where individual fighters compete in the regular season, playoffs and championship.

PFL League airs in the US during prime time on ESPN and ESPN+ and is streamed and broadcast globally in 160 countries with over 25 media distribution partners including Channel 4, DirecTV, RMC Sport, Eurosport, Sky Sports. The PFL Challenger Series is live on FUBO TV in the United States. The roster of PFL fighters is world class, with 25% of PFL fighters independently ranked in the top 25 in the world. PFL’s proprietary SmartCage data and analytics platform powers real-time betting and delivers a next-generation viewing experience.

PFL has more than two dozen premium brand sponsors such as Anheuser-Busch, IBM, GEICO, DraftKings, Bose, Socios.com, Air Force Reserve and US Marine Corps. PFL lifted $200 million capital to date from major investors including Ares, Luxor Capital, Waverley Capital, Elysian Park Ventures, Swan Ventures, Knighthead, Legends and several NBA, MLB and NHL team owners.

MMA is the fastest growing sport of this decade, with 600 million fans worldwide, the youngest demo audience of any sport, and genuine global revenue streams.

PFLmma.com; Instagram (@PFLmma); Twitter (@PFLMMA); Facebook (/PFLMma)

About Waverley Capital

Waverley Capital is a media and digital focused venture capital firm, co-founded by Edgar Bronfman Jr. (former CEO of Warner Music Group and Universal) and Daniel Lef (current or former board member of Roku, fuboTV, The Athletic, others). Waverley has invested in and helped found many category-defining media companies, including Roku, fuboTV, Matterport, PlutoTV (sold to ViacomCBS), Wondery (sold to Amazon, Inc.), TheAthletic (sold to New York TimesInc.), Art19 (sold to Amazon, Inc.), 1Mainstream (sold to Cisco Systems, Inc.), Elemental Technologies (sold to Amazon, Inc.), and Headspace.

SOURCE Professional Fighters League (PFL)