The Professional Fighters League (PFL) capped its breakthrough inaugural season on New Year’s Eve in New York City with a star-studded, record-breaking 2018 Championship Event. With a global audience cheering them on, the PFL punctuated its regular season and post season format with a premiere championship event by crowning six new world champions with each taking home an unprecedented $1 million prize.
Middleweight – Louis Taylor (Chicago, IL) via TKO at :33 of the 1st Round
Featherweight – Lance Palmer (Columbus, OH) via unanimous decision
Lightweight – Natan Schulte (Joinville, Brazil) via unanimous decision
Light Heavyweight – Sean O’Connell (Salt Lake City, UT) via TKO 5:00 of the 3rd Round
Heavyweight – Philipe Lins (Natal, Brazil) via TKO at :33 of the 4th Round
Welterweight – Magomed Magomedkerimov (Russia) via Submission at 2:18 of the 2nd Round
For the 2018 Championship, the PFL saw a record-setting number of fans tune-in with over 5 million fans watching in the U.S. on NBCSN and in the rest of the world on Facebook Watch as well as on select international sports networks. In addition to the millions of passionate PFL fans who watched via broadcast and digital streaming, the League had over 15,000 fans participate in the first-ever DraftKings 2018 World Championship Pick ‘Em Style Fantasy Game.
The League’s New Year’s Eve event also featured two-time gold medalist, Kayla Harrison who remains undefeated and is the number one ranked 155 pound MMA female athlete in the world.
“The PFL Championship on New Year’s Eve from Madison Square Garden was an exclamation point on our fantastic inaugural season of reimagining MMA with the first-ever sport season format of individual fighters competing in regular season, playoffs, and championship,” said Peter Murray, CEO of the PFL. “Over 5 million fans around the world watched as 6 great fighters earned championship titles and became instant millionaires. Despite the excitement of 2018, the PFL is just getting started, and look for new announcements as we continue to innovate for MMA fans in 2019.”
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