“UFC ain’t the NFL” - PFL's rise prompts Donn Davis to accuse Dana White of being fearful of his company’s growing influence

Donn Davis recently clapped back at Dana White, who dismissed the significance of the PFL prior to the Bellator deal.

During his appearance on The MMA Hour, Davis brought up that the promotion has experienced exponential growth and that the acquisition of Bellator now makes them a co-leader in the MMA market. He mentioned that the UFC CEO has only dismissed things when he is worried and noted that he is actually fearful of the influx of top-ranked fighters that are now members of the roster.

He said:

"Everybody knows Dana [White] well enough that he only dismisses things that worry him or else he just doesn't comment...What specifically worried him about Bellator was the metrics we put on the press release. 30 per cent of that roster ranked in the top-25 Fight Matrix rankings."

Donn Davis then brought up the perception that Dana White prefers that fans have on his promotion when compared to others. He mentioned that following the acquisition of Bellator, the thought process of the UFC being the NFL isn't a reality anymore, saying:

"UFC ain't the NFL. We're not the XFL, but he wants you to think that. And it's just a matter of time before that starts to get more well known and we're not number-two, we're a co-leader. They don't want that, that's what's going on."

It will be interesting to see whether the influx of top-ranked fighters and their expanded lineup of events will lead to the PFL gaining more popularity and challenging the UFC.

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Donn Davis reveals that the PFL acquired all Bellator fighters as part of the deal

Donn Davis answered all the questions surrounding the future of fighters under contract with Bellator as he revealed that their contracts were included as part of the acquisition.

During the aforementioned appearance, the PFL founder brought up that the fighters will have an option to participate in the regular season format or one-off events format in Bellator as a result of the acquisition. He mentioned that he believed it was the best move for the fighters and fans, saying:

"All of them [Bellator fighters] rare coming over. Part of what we did and obviously it would have been better for PFL to only take certain fighters. We thought it was better for the sport and better for those fighters to take them all."