WBD acquires US rights to PFL’s Bellator Champion Series
March 20, 2024
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) have announced an exclusive US media rights agreement for the new Bellator Champion Series, a mixed martial arts (MMA) championship. This new series will stream exclusively on Max and be available on all plans. The series includes eight mega events staged in cities across the globe, featuring world-ranked fighters and two title fights during each event.
Bellator Champions Series kicks off at SSE Arenain Belfast, Northern Ireland on March 22nd and is followed by Bellator Champions Series Paris on May 17th at the Accor Arena. With World Championships on the line, each event will highlight the best fighters from each region with locally relevant matchups. The full slate of 2024 Bellator Champions Series events are as follows (timing will be announced closer to event dates):
- March 22, 1pm E.T. – Bellator Champions Series Belfast – The SSE Arena, Belfast
- May 17 – Bellator Champions Series Paris – Accor Arena
- June 22 – Bellator Champions Series Dublin – 3Arena
- September 7 – Bellator Champions Series San Diego – Pechanga Arena
- September 14 – Bellator Champions Series London – OVO Wembley
- October 12 – Bellator Champions Series Chicago – Wintrust Arena
- November 16 – Bellator Champions Series Paris – ADIDAS Arena
- December 31 – Bellator Champions Series – TBD
Additionally, TNT Sports will televise a slate of Bellator content throughout the year on the ‘TNT Sports on truTV’ programming block. Broadcast details will be announced soon.
Additional programming available to stream on Max will include a selection from Bellator’s full library featuring 300+ events with 3,000 fights, pre-fight, post-fight, and original programming, including legends from the sport like Kimbo Slice, Rampage Jackson, Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva, Tito Ortiz, Fedor Emelianenko, and the full fight history of Bellator homegrown talent like AJ McKee, Johnny Eblen, Aaron Pico, Michael Chandler, and Michael ‘Venom’ Page.
“Following our historic acquisition of Bellator, Professional Fighters League is proud to partner with Warner Bros Discovery for the highly anticipated Bellator Champions Series to stream exclusively on Max for fans across the United States, at no extra cost to subscribers, when the global franchise launches on March 22nd,” said Peter Murray, CEO, Professional Fighters League. “We’re excited for audiences to tune into Bellator’s new home on Max for eight Bellator Champions Series events in 2024 taking place in iconic cities around the globe, featuring world title fights and the biggest stars in combat sports. There’s an incredible demand for premium, year-round MMA content from major media platforms and this is the latest milestone in PFL’s ambition to bring the sport’s best to audiences around the world.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Professional Fighters League to introduce a new live sport to the US Warner Bros Discovery content portfolio,” added Josh Walker, Chief Financial & Strategy Officer, Warner Bros Discovery Streaming. “The addition of Bellator Champions Series offers our viewers an opportunity to experience highly anticipated mixed martial arts, nicely complementing our robust slate of can’t miss programming.”