VICE TV has announced a multi-year broadcast partnership with PFL, giving U.S. television audiences access to PFL’s international competition for the first time through the network’s extensive cable coverage. The agreement will make VICE TV the exclusive linear U.S. broadcaster for ten international events beginning in December 2025 and continuing through 2026, in addition to 50 hours of on-demand library content that includes PFL MENA and PFL Africa programming.
VICE TV and the PFL
The partnership demonstrates and underlines a significant expansion of VICE TV’s sports strategy PFL’s rapid global growth as the organization continues to establish regional franchises outside of North America. VICE TV reaches more than 40 million cable and satellite homes in the United States, giving the platform significant distribution capacity for martial arts content. The network has positioned itself as an emerging destination for alternative sports programming since launching VICE Sports in 2025, a vertical platform designed to deliver live sporting events and sports-related documentary content to audiences seeking distinctive storytelling approaches in the sports media landscape.
The first broadcast will include two championship events scheduled for December. The PFL MENA Championships will broadcast from Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia on December 5, with four title fights in the bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight divisions at the Dhahran Expo venue. The event will see Kuwait’s Mohammad Alaqraa defend his welterweight champion status against Moroccan Badreddine Diani, in addition to the lightweight final between undefeated Iraqi fighter Mohammad Fahmi and Moroccan Salah Eddine Hamli. The second broadcast, the The PFL Africa Championships on December 20 from Benin, West Africa will see the first-ever PFL Africa champions in four weight divisions crowned following the completion of the regional semi-finals in Rwanda in October.
Peter Gaffney, president of VICE TV, stated that the network’s audience is looking for content that stands out from the mainstream. “The VICE TV audience comes to us for the exciting, provocative and compelling content they can’t find anywhere else, and as we continue to enhance our live sports offering, we’re proud to welcome Professional Fighter’s League to our lineup and give our viewers and PFL fans in the U.S. access to these international fights on television for the first time,” said Gaffney. The partnership joins VICE TV’s sports programming infrastructure, which already includes broadcast commitments for Bare Knuckle Boxing, United Fight League, Arena Football One and basketball coverage through the BIG3 league.
The Professional Fighters League CEO John Martin, who was appointed to his role in July 2025, characterized the partnership as a transformational moment for global MMA distribution. Martin previously led Turner Broadcasting as chairman and CEO from 2014 to 2018 and served as Chief Financial Officer at Time Warner. His appointment reflected PFL’s ambition to capitalize on international growth opportunities as the organization continues to expand its footprint beyond the North American market, where it maintains existing broadcast agreements with ESPN.
The eight additional events scheduled in 2026 will expand television coverage of PFL’s international franchises to U.S. audiences. PFL currently operates international competitions in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Africa, with plans to launch additional regional competitions in Australia and the Pacific region in 2026, followed by expansions into Latin America and Asia in subsequent years.
The 50 hours of library content included in the VICE TV deal provides on-demand access to archived PFL MENA and PFL Africa fights for cable, satellite and telecom distributors. This on-demand component extends the value of the partnership beyond live event broadcasts, allowing subscribers to access historic match footage at their convenience.
VICE TV has systematically built a sports portfolio since the inception of VICE Sports, recognizing that male audiences over-index as sports consumers and that sports programming strengthens relationships with pay TV providers in an evolving media landscape.
The Professional Fighters League’s valuation reached $1 billion in 2025, marking a major milestone for the organization since its inception in 2018. PFL founder Donn Davis highlighted the opportunity in the international market, noting that approximately 550 million of the sport’s estimated 650 million fans worldwide live outside the United States.
VICE TV noted that the deal aligns with the network’s commitment to storytelling and authentic sports reporting, while PFL highlighted the partnership’s role in bringing regional MMA talent and international competition to North American audiences who previously could not access these events through traditional broadcast channels.
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