PFL’s Davis Says Event Costs Beat UFC Sphere
Donn Davis said PFL’s 2024 Battle of the Giants cost more to produce than UFC 306, per MMA Fighting. Francis Ngannou won its main event by first-round TKO.
What Davis said about the cost
In an interview reported by MMA Fighting, Davis called the production cost “astronomical” and said it exceeded the UFC’s investment in the Sphere event. Those were Davis’s claims; the promotions did not publish a comparable audited production budget. UFC 306 itself was reported by the UFC as generating a $22 million live gate, a separate measure from production cost.
Ngannou’s return and the event results
The main event matched former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou with 2023 PFL heavyweight champion Ferreira for a PFL Super Fights title. Ngannou won by first-round TKO, returning to MMA after more than two years away. Reuters’ event report recapped the finish.
The card also featured Cris Cyborg against Larissa Pacheco in a women’s featherweight title bout; Cyborg won by unanimous decision. The event’s high-profile names and Riyadh setting drew attention, but claims about its relative production spending remain attributed to Davis rather than independently established figures. PFL’s event page lists the card.
Sources
Tags: MMA
