It’s been a tumultuous series of news cycles for the PFL in recent months, but Wednesday the promotion announced the plan for its next set of tournaments.

Starting in April, the PFL will hold a series of single-elimination tournaments over eight weight classes. Each division will have eight fighters, and the promotion said in a news release the total prize money will be $20 million.

No fighters were announced for the tournaments Wednesday. The PFL said a roster reveal for the brackets will take place next month. There will be just one women’s division: flyweight. There will be seven men’s tournaments in the standard divisions from bantamweight up to heavyweight, but no men’s flyweight tournament.

Dates were announced for the events, but no locations. Opening round fights will take place April 3, April 11 and April 18 and will be broadcast and streamed on ESPN platforms. Semifinal bouts will be June 12, June 20 and June 27, and the tournament finals will be Aug. 1, Aug. 15 and Aug. 21.

“The PFL world tournament is continued innovation by PFL, and we are thrilled to present to global MMA fans an even more exciting product: one shot, single elimination, nothing more exciting in all of sports,” PFL CEO Peter Murray said in a news release.”

Opening round and semifinal fights will be three rounds; finals will be five-round title fights.

In past years, the PFL had seasons with six divisions and a $1 million prize for the champion. Fighters qualified for the postseason tournaments by way of a regular season in which they earned points, but the PFL recently announced that format would go away.

Tuesday, PFL released an official statement addressing the future branding of Bellator. PFL acquired the Bellator brand and its roster of fighters in November 2023.

PFL chairman and founder Donn Davis publicly shared the statement on social media, confirming an initial report from Ariel Helwani that the Bellator brand would no longer be used, effectively ending the brand that was founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney.

In recent months, the brand has been in the news primarily because of fighter and manager complaints over the treatment of Bellator fighters under contract after the acquisition – and their lack of fight opportunities.

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