PFL World Tournament to take up residency at Universal Studios Florida

The PFL has confirmed its dates and locations for the first four events of their 2025 PFL World Tournament.

The tournament’s first four events will be held on the backlot of Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, on April 3, 11, 18, and May 1.

The tournament, which is the PFL’s replacement for their previous season format, will see weight classes consisting of eight fighters each doing battle in a single elimination tournament to determine a tournament winner. That winner will earn a $500,000 bonus.

The weight classes set to be featured in the inaugural tournament are heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and women’s flyweight.

The first round and semi-final fights will be contested over three, five-minute rounds, while the tournament finals will be foought over five, five-minute rounds. In a change to the previous season rules, elbows will be permitted in all bouts.

The tournaments will be held across a five-month span, with the one fighter from each weight class who wins three fights in a row being crowned tournament winner and claiming their $500,000 bonus.

“The PFL World Tournament is continued innovation by PFL, and we are thrilled to present to global MMA fans an even more exciting product,” said PFL CEO, Peter Murray last month when the new format was officially unveiled..

“One shot, single elimination, nothing more exciting in all of sports.”

In addition to the four opening-round event dates, the PFL has already unveiled their eight-fighter lineup for the welterweight tournament?

Former Bellator world champions Jason Jackson and Andrey Koreshkov, plus former interim Bellator champion Logan Storley, are all included in the tournament, while Russian contenders Magomed Umalatov and Mekhamed Berkhamov are also in. Greece will be represented by Giannis Bachar, while Japan’s Masayuki Kikuiri and Albania’s Florim Zendeli are also in the lineup.