3 TO WATCH
As the Professional Fighters League looks to assert itself as the clear challenger to UFC in mixed martial arts, a popular star in France is lending the property some credence. The U.S.-based property has been active over the last year after it acquired Bellator from Paramount Global, signed Jake Paul and Francis Ngannou to deals to fight in the property and announced plans to start regional leagues around the world. The PFL fighter who may be resonating most is Frenchman Cédric Doumbé, who has helped the PFL sell out multiple events in Paris, fights that brought out stars including Kylian Mbappé and Victor Wembanyama. The PFL has been making moves since last August, when Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, SRJ Sports Investments, made its first foray into mixed martial arts by investing $100 million in the PFL.
UFC’s biggest commercial star, Conor McGregor, delayed his return to the octagon after suffering a toe injury a few weeks before he was scheduled to headline UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas. The Irishman has been out of action for three years since he broke his leg at UFC 264 in a fight versus Dustin Poirier. He was set to finally return in a bout versus Michael Chandler before the injury scrapped those plans. McGregor has said that ideally he’d like to reschedule the fight for later this summer to early fall, but UFC CEO Dana White told SBJ that “from here on out, I’m not going to talk about it until when he’s healed and he’s right. Then we’ll look at the landscape and see what we can figure out.”
Another big bout set for this summer that was delayed is the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight. After Tyson suffered an ulcer flareup, the sides opted to move the fight from July 20 to Nov. 15, with it still set for AT&T Stadium. The fight will air on Netflix’s main platform, not on a pay-perview tier, which has led at least one stock analyst to predict it could end up being the most-watched boxing match of all time.