UFC Meta Apex shows do not capture the PFL CEO’s imagination

UFC’s Meta Apex shows don’t exactly inspire the imaginations of many mixed martial arts fans, and PFL CEO John Martin seems to be part of this group. The promotional figurehead for Professional Fighters League expressed as much on Bowks Talking Bouts ahead of the kickoff of PFL’s Summer Series. This begins on June 27th with PFL San Diego as AJ McKee clashes with rising star Salamat Isbulaev, in the top of the marquee attraction.

PFL has not only increased the amount of domestic North American shows as they have also expanded globally while maintaining a uniform standard of production quality across all shows. Touching on those components, Martin said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“So the analytics it’s any and all of the above, but it doesn’t always have to be New York, Miami, Dubai. I mean, I’ll give you a great example. I think one of the most fun events we’ve held so far this year was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the first event we held in the US in almost 8 months, which means we were out of the market for way too long.”

“It was not the biggest arena. It was about 4000, 4500. But we had Dalton Rosta there, who was a Pittsburgh local. The the crowd showed up there. We were sold out, set a gate record for the arena. They showed up for the first fight. By the second fight, it was already almost full. When Dalton came out and he had a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey on and we had Pittsburgh Steelers in the audience, that thing was, the ceiling was blown off of that place and I like that.”

“Even when you watch on TV, when you get a sense of what you’re watching, if you see the crowd, you see the energy, you feel the energy, it’s just different. It just feels different. That’s what I wanted to bring to the American audience. That’s what I wanted to bring and I can’t tell you the number of fighters who were taking notice of that too.”

“People are coming up to me and saying thank you. Thank you for making the promotion much more focused on bigger productions and bigger events. That’s the direction I want to continue to move the PFL into.”

UFC Meta Apex is something John Martin wishes PFL had, but the shows there just aren’t quite the same