The PFL-MVP merger gave MVP MMA the roster. Now it needs a corner.
By Nathan, Lead Strategist, Town Squared Strategies · September 2026
On July 30, the Professional Fighters League (PFL) and Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) that will retire the PFL name and bring the combined company as MVP MMA. On paper, the deal gives MVP what a challenger to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) needs: across boxing and mixed martial arts, and . Two months later, the public conversation tells a different story. I reviewed and media coverage to see how the merger is landing, and found a company without a CEO, a brand promise without proof and fan questions without official answers. With the rebrand only months away, here is what MVP's communications need to get right.
Who is the CEO of MVP MMA?
A true rebrand moves a company from one corporate container into another. It is continuity through evolution, and a smooth transition requires complete brand leadership on both sides of the move. In the merger of the PFL and MVP, a critical piece of that leadership is missing: the chief executive officer. John Martin, who led the combined company, , and . In the absence of company messaging, fans have written their own story. Top comments in r/MMA's thread on his resignation show them attributing Martin's sudden exit to and other negative explanations. That leaves MVP on the back foot. It now needs a positive, deliberate explanation for the leadership change, and a spokesperson who can carry the merger's other critical communication priorities.
I predict that Nakisa Bidarian, on his way out, will be officially named CEO before the brand switches over to MVP in 2027. The smarter move, however, is to name the new CEO before , when the media will be less patient in seeking answers. Acting early would give the new CEO a head start on the organization's other key messaging priorities. The longer the organization goes without someone steering the ship, the further it will drift off course.
'Fighter first' needs proof on fighter pay
MVP has publicly branded itself as "." It's a strong slogan, but it needs strong evidence to back it up. At its first mixed martial arts card, MVP and . Co-founder Nakisa Bidarian went further, saying fighters would receive , plus performance bonuses on top of the guarantee. That was an excellent start toward building the organization around fighter-first principles. MVP made concrete, quotable commitments. Then it stopped talking about them. Since that event, MVP has not run a single fighter-first communication campaign, and the narrative has . In other words, no one is talking about the organization's boldest brand claim. Silence is not the same as disbelief, though, and it's the easier problem to fix.
MVP should formalize and publish its fighter terms and extend them to the full combined roster. Until then, it should use the fighter-first phrase sparingly, and only alongside a tangible proof point.
Don't fight Dana White and the UFC on their terms
Dana White, chief executive officer of the UFC, as "a bigger company that nobody will watch." It's tempting to swing back when the incumbent questions your relevance. MVP didn't need to say anything. Jake Paul responded anyway, captioned "Numbers don't lie. Dana does." The fans were already doing the work. The top comments in mocked White, not MVP. When your audience is making your argument for you, the worst thing you can do is interrupt.
There is one exception: the narrative around talent leaving the combined company for the UFC. The UFC before the merger, and one of them, Salahdine Parnasse, . yet, but one more signing could tip it. Whether or not it's deliberate on White's part, each departure chips away at the merger's credibility. The best defense is publishing fighter terms good enough that leaving looks like a pay cut.
Who owns MVP MMA, and where can fans watch in 2027?
Across my searches on the merger, wasn't about fights. It was "Who owns the company?" Other top questions included: Who's the CEO? Where do I watch in 2027? How much do fighters get paid? None of them had an answer on company-owned channels. Instead, the answers came from unofficial sources and self-proclaimed experts. Even one of the brand's most important owned searches, "MVP MMA," , a fighter who goes by the nickname MVP. Closing that gap between what fans are asking and what the company is saying should be near the top of the to-do list.
The most urgent of those questions is where to watch. The PFL's U.S. , and the company . I expect the brand to switch over to MVP in January before a distribution deal is announced. If that happens, fans will face an uncomfortable gap: a new brand name with no clear place to find it. Top comments on r/MMA show fans are filling that gap by . If the eventual partner isn't Netflix, the company will be announcing a disappointment instead of a win. MVP should get ahead of that assumption with an official statement confirming that distribution talks are active and giving fans a timeline for the announcement.
Takeaways: what MVP MMA should do before January 2027
The merger gives MVP the roster, the capital and the attention to become a real challenger in mixed martial arts, but its communication hasn't caught up to its ambitions. Four moves would close the gap: name a CEO before PFL Chicago on Oct. 16, back the fighter-first claim with published terms for the full roster, leave the UFC feud to the fans while countering the talent-drain story and answer fans' most-searched questions on company-owned channels, starting with where to watch in 2027. The window to do this is narrowing. Ki MMA, , with . That means a well-funded competitor will debut with a clear, simple story in the same months MVP is switching brands, and it's built around . If MVP doesn't define itself before January, Ki MMA will be happy to define the alternative to the UFC.
