Warner Bros. Discovery Secures Exclusive U.S. Rights To PFL’s New Bellator Champions Series

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announces an exclusive U.S. media rights agreement for the new Bellator Champion Series, a highly anticipated mixed martial arts (MMA) championship, debuting this Friday, March 22.

This new series will stream exclusively on Max and be available on all plans. The series includes eight mega events staged in cities across the globe, featuring world-ranked fighters and two title fights during each event.

Bellator Champions Series kicks off at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland this Friday, March 22 at 1pm ET and is followed by Bellator Champions Series Paris on Friday, May 17 at the Accor Arena. With World Championships on the line, each event will highlight the best fighters from each region with locally relevant matchups. The full slate of 2024 Bellator Champions Series events are as follows (timing will be announced closer to event dates):

• Friday, March 22, 1pm E.T. – Bellator Champions Series Belfast – The SSE Arena, Belfast
• Friday, May 17 – Bellator Champions Series Paris – Accor Arena
• Saturday, June 22 – Bellator Champions Series Dublin – 3Arena
• Saturday, September 7 – Bellator Champions Series San Diego – Pechanga Arena
• Saturday, September 14 – Bellator Champions Series London – OVO Wembley
• Saturday, October 12 – Bellator Champions Series Chicago – Wintrust Arena
• Saturday, November 16 – Bellator Champions Series Paris – ADIDAS Arena
• Tuesday, December 31 – Bellator Champions Series – TBD

Additionally, TNT Sports will televise a robust slate of Bellator content throughout the year on the “TNT Sports on truTV” programming block. Broadcast details will be announced in the coming weeks.

The first event includes a stacked fight card full of MMA action:

MAIN EVENT: COREY ANDERSON V KARL MOORE

Bellator Light Heavyweight Title Fight (205 lb)

Corey Anderson, one of the best light heavyweights of the last decade, gets his third crack at becoming a world champion as he takes on Belfast’s very own Karl Moore. Anderson has won against five different MMA world champions. Moore is riding a four-fight win streak and is fighting to become Bellator’s first Irish Champion in front of his home crowd.

CO-MAIN EVENT: PATRICIO PITBULL V JEREMY KENNEDY

Bellator Featherweight Title Fight (145 lb)

Bellator G.O.A.T. Patricio Pitbull defends his featherweight title against the division’s #1 title contender, ferocious Jeremy Kennedy. Pitbull is the only Bellator 4X World Champion and holds the records for most fights (29), wins (23), and finishes (13) in Bellator history. Kennedy has won six of his last seven fights against top competition to earn this title shot.

MIDDLEWEIGHT #1 CONTENDER BOUT: FABIAN EDWARDS V AARON JEFFERY

Fabian “The Assassin” Edwards, the brother of UFC Welterweight Champ Leon Edwards, looks to rebound from a close Championship loss to undefeated Johnny Eblen last time out. Edwards will have to go through hard-hitting Canadian Aaron Jeffery to re-establish himself worthy of another shot at the Bellator Middleweight Championship Belt.

In addition to the eight high-octane global events, Max subscribers will also have access to two new all-access docuseries, both debuting Thursday, March 21 ahead of the first event this Friday, March 22. Fans can go behind-the-scenes and delve deeper into the fighter’s lives as they push beyond their limits to mentally prepare and train for their match ups:

• Fight Camp Confidential: Witness a journey into the lives of Bellator’s most elite fighters as the show travels to the camps of Bellator champions and title contenders, giving an up-close and personal look at their training regimes.
• Fight Week: An all-access look at the lives of championship fighters as they prepare to defend their belts. Experience the intensity of training mixed with lighthearted moments that make up fight week.​

Additional programming available to stream on Max will include a robust selection from Bellator’s full library featuring 300+ events with 3,000 fights, pre-fight, post-fight, and original programming, including legends from the sport like Kimbo Slice, “Rampage” Jackson, Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva, Tito Ortiz, Fedor Emelianenko, and the full fight history of Bellator homegrown talent like AJ McKee, Johnny Eblen, Aaron Pico, Michael Chandler, and Michael “Venom” Page.

“Following our historic acquisition of Bellator, Professional Fighters League is proud to partner with Warner Bros. Discovery for the highly anticipated Bellator Champions Series to stream exclusively on Max for fans across the United States, at no extra cost to subscribers, when the global franchise launches on March 22,” says Peter Murray, CEO, Professional Fighters League. “We’re excited for audiences to tune into Bellator’s new home on Max for eight Bellator Champions Series events in 2024 taking place in iconic cities around the globe, featuring world title fights and the biggest stars in combat sports. There’s an incredible demand for premium, year-round MMA content from major media platforms and this is the latest milestone in PFL’s ambition to bring the sport’s best to audiences around the world.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Professional Fighters League to introduce a new live sport to the U.S. Warner Bros. Discovery content portfolio,” says Josh Walker, Chief Financial & Strategy Officer, Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming. “The addition of Bellator Champions Series offers our viewers an opportunity to experience highly anticipated mixed martial arts, nicely complementing our robust slate of can’t miss programming.”