The Professional Fighters League has announced they will partner with Channel 4 for UK television broadcast rights.
The promotion's CEO Peter Murray announced the news alongside Louisa Compton, the Head of News and Current Affairs for Channel 4, at a press conference on Tuesday.
Top fighters for the promotion such as Claressa Shields., Brendan Loughnane and Stevie Ray were in attendance at the conference.
The promotion previously aired their fights to UK viewers on streaming service MMA TV, but will now attract a larger audience through their deal with free-to-air network Channel 4.
Murray said the deal with the UK network "illustrates MMA as mainstream" and will deliver fans a "premium innovative quality product" through their league format.
Compton said PFL focus on technology and analytics - such as their implementation of a referee camera - was a big part of their interest in partnering with the promotion.
PFL featherweight Brendan Loughnane said of the news, "This is absolutely life-changing, the fact it's now on terrestrial is breakthrough not just for me but MMA."
Murray revealed the promotion also plans to hold super-fights outside of their league schedule and has labelled the deal with Channel 4 as a "gamechanger" for British MMA.
Shields - who is 1-1 in MMA - hopes to take on rival Savannah Marshall in the ring this June then take a year away from the sport to focus on her PFL career.
PFL, formerly known as World Series of Fighting, hosted their inaugural season that ran for ten months in 2018.
The promotion’s format sees fighters compete in three season fights, with those compiling the best records moving to a playoff followed by a championship round.
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Since 2018, the promotion has awarded a total of $18million in prize money to the winners of each season.
PFL continued to globally expand last year and is available to watch in 160 countries, having deals with major media networks such as ESPN in the US and Globo in Brazil.
The promotion added talented fighters to their roster last year in former UFC champion Anthony Pettis and two-time Olympic gold medalist Shields.
PFL resigned their promotional star Kayla Harrison last month after reports the Olympic judoka would join the UFC and challenge former two-weight champion Amanda Nunes.
The undefeated Harrison has continued to shine under the PFL banner and decisively won the 2019 and 2021 women's lightweight tournaments.
