The PFL initially prohibited all elbow strikes,[10][11][12] but in November 2024, it was announced that they would finally be allowed, starting with the 2024 Championship season.

[17] The WSOF held over 35 events in multiple countries including the United States, Canada, Japan, China and the Philippines,[18] and was best known for featuring fighters such as Justin Gaethje, Marlon Moraes and Lance Palmer.

[20][21][22][23] It was announced that the WSOF would be restructured as the Professional Fighters League (PFL), with owner Davis as founder and with the inaugural season taking place in 2018.

[30][31][32][33] In March 2021, Hall of Fame American football player Ray Lewis joined the PFL athlete advisory board.

DraftKings would sponsor the league's pre-fight shows and use their in-fighting technology and capturing real-time data for future prop bets.

[40][41] In August 2021, PFL announced a long-term partnership with Legends Hospitality, with the company purchasing a minority ownership stake.

[45] In May 2022, PFL revealed that they completed a $30 million equity round to aid in global expansion efforts and a new Pay-per-view division.

[46][47] Baseball player Alex Rodriguez was involved the raise and, with Daniel Leff, joined PFL's board of directors.

[54] In January 2023, the PFL announced a new division, known as Super Fight, with events on pay-per-view, co-founded by major influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul.

As part of the agreement, SRJ supported creating PFL MENA (Middle East and North Africa) regional league.

[63] As part of the announcement, Davis confirmed that the Bellator brand would continue as a separate “reimagined” league with its athletes able to compete in PFL events.

[65][66] An eight-event Bellator Champions Series was also established, with its inaugural event held on March 22, 2024, and others scheduled in the US, England, and France later in the year.

Young and up-and-coming male and female MMA fighters will compete for a slot in the PFL tournament season and a chance at $1 million.

Each week, the PFL Challenger Series will consist of a celebrity guest panel featuring personalities in film, athletics and sports.

In the 2021 debut airing of the PFL Challenger Series, the celebrity guest panel included NFL stars Ray Lewis and Todd Gurley and entertainers Jeremy Piven and Wiz Khalifa.

[83][84][85] The promotion’s inaugural event took place May 10 in Riyadh as part of a four-event season with 32 fighters competing in 4 weight classes, with a grand prize of $100,000.

[96] In January 2023, YouTube influencer Jake Paul announced that he had signed a deal with the PFL to compete in their Super Fight division, which he helped launch.

[99] In May 2023, former Glory welterweight champion Cedric Doumbè signed a contract with the Professional Fighters League and is expected to attend the PFL Europe Playoff in September 2023.

[100] After leaving the UFC in January 2023, former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou joined the organization in May 2023, who CEO Peter Murray called their "number one signing" at the time.

[101][102][103] Ngannou’s agreement was characterized as a “strategic partnership” with the PFL, which gives him equity, a leadership role on the promotion’s advisory board, and allows him to pursue outside boxing fights.

[105][106] In 2018, the seven regular-season events were held at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, the Chicago Theatre, GWU Smith Center, Nassau Coliseum and Ocean Resort Casino.

[113] Two-time Olympic gold medalist and top pound-for-pound women's boxer Claressa Shields signed a three-year contract with the Professional Fighters League to compete in the Women's Lightweight division and former UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis who joined the Professional Fighters League ahead of the 2021 regular season.

The late additions to the season were the welterweights Gleison Tibau, Alexey Kunchenko and Jason Ponet, featherweights Chris Wade and Anthony Dizy, women's lightweights Kaitlin Young and Taylor Guardado and light heavyweight Nick Roehrick.

[118] Set to debut in February 2022, the new event will see fighters competing for a chance to earn a PFL contract and will incorporate a celebrity judging panel, a fan vote, sports betting and gamification.

[119] On January 29, 2018, the League announced it had reached a multi-platform distribution deal for the inaugural 2018 season with NBC Sports Group and Facebook.

[128][129] In January 2022, it was announced that PFL and ESPN struck a multi-year contract extension for broadcasting rights in the United States.

[133] PFL's 2018 broadcast team for live events and pre- and post-event shows included Randy Couture, Bas Rutten, Yves Edwards, Caroline Pearce and Todd Harris.

[135][136] The 2021 broadcast team included Randy Couture,[137][138] Kenny Florian,[139] Sean O'Connell,[140] Lillian Garcia[141] and Chael Sonnen.