PFL boss: Thursday is win to get into the $1,000,000 playoffs
PFL President Carlos Silva: “All these guys want to win a million dollars, and the way you win a million dollars is make the playoffs.”
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) presents MMA in a season format. The PFL 2018 Season has 72 fighters in six weight classes, with 126 fights in seven regular-season events, a bracket-style win or go home playoff, and a $10 million post-season prize pool – the largest tournament prize pool in the history of MMA. The season will begin with 12 athletes in each of six different weight classes. Eight fighters from each class will earn their way into the playoff round, and one fighter in each division will earn the title of champion.
To make the final eight, fighters earn points in pre-tournament rounds, with 3 points for a win and 1-3 more for a finish, depending on round. Losers earn nothing. You can view the current standings here.
The regular season is broadcast on Thursday nights in June, July, and August. The top eight in each weight-class face-off in single elimination playoff fights on Saturday nights in October. Then the PFL season concludes December 31 with six championship bouts back-to-back; winners earn $1,000,000 each.
PFL 4 takes place this Thursday, July 19, live from Nassau Coliseum, in Long Island, New York. Fighters in the heavyweight and featherweight divisions will fight to earn their spot in the playoffs. The first six fights at PFL 4 stream live on Facebook; the final five are broadcast on NBCSN. PFL President Carlos Silva spoke with John Morgan for MMAjunkie and explained that the season is taking off.
The first events were interesting, and I think everybody is really getting into the points system, said Silva. Now, with PFL 4, 5, 6 and 7, everyone’s got a marker. You’ve got six points, five points, four points or three points – or you have zero points. For all of them, there’s no guarantees on getting into the playoffs.
All these guys want to win a million dollars, and the way you win a million dollars is make the playoffs. It’s like the playoff implications in the NFL, when you get late in the season in games 13, 14, 15 and 16, I think it’s got that same feel.
Before PFL 1, I think everybody was just kind of sitting and waiting. But then they saw it at PFL 1, and all of a sudden they saw it at PFL 2 and PFL 3, and I think everybody absolutely has embraced the points, but more importantly the standings. I see so many posts about how everyone loves the standings. Everyone knows where everyone stands in that cutline.
If you missed the first round, buckle your seatbelts for the second round because now, it’s win and get into the playoffs. Put your seatbelt on because there’s going to be some big guys that are going to try and get some finishes so they can get bonus points and make it into the playoffs. Everybody loves that.
Main Card (NBCSN, 9 p.m. ET)
Lance Palmer vs. Jumabieke Tuerxun
Andre Harrison vs. Nazareno Malegarie
Francimar Barroso vs. Jack May
Alexandre Almeida vs. Steven Siler
Alex Nicholson vs. Philipe Lins
Prelim Card (7 p.m. ET)
Jared Rosholt vs. Kelvin Tiller
Carl Deaton vs. Bekbulat Magomedov
Max Coga vs. Marcos Galvao
Darrick Minner vs. Timur Valiev
Josh Copeland vs. Shawn Jordan
Daniel Gallemore vs. Valdrin Istrefi