After holding its championship card on Black Friday for several years, the PFL will go dark for Thanksgiving weekend in 2025. The promotion will be back in action the first weekend of December for the first of two cards in the final month of the year. We’ll have more on the PFL later in our look at what we can be thankful for in MMA this year.
With no major MMA happening this Thanksgiving holiday weekend, MMA fans across the United States will return to their hometowns in the coming days to gather around the family dinner table to break bread with their family and friends and count their blessings. Fans of competitive violence have plenty to be thankful for this holiday season.
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As you get ready to pack up and head home for the Thanksgiving holiday or if you’re reading this between football games on the holiday itself, take a moment to look at what we, as fans of MMA, have to be thankful for. Hey, pass the pumpkin pie, please.
What we should be thankful for in MMA in 2025: UFC moves cards to Paramount Plus
Our first item on the list of what to be thankful for in MMA this year is one that has surprised everyone in the sport. Entering 2025, the UFC and its U.S. media rights holder, ESPN/ ESPN+were in the final year of a seven-year contract.
As is common in the business world, UFC CEO Dana White and his team looked at offers from all interested parties. including one from TNT Sports. To quote David Samson’s signature on his daily podcast: “It’s just business. It’s nothing personal.”
Fast forward to the month of August, when Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance) waded into the proceedings, offering a whopping $7.7 billion over seven years to secure exclusive U.S. media rights to UFC events. This deal has now been changed to reach audiences in Australia and Latin American countries, including MMA hotbed Brazil.
What we have to be thankful for in MMA: no more PPV obligations
Even better, the old pay-per-view model has now gone the way of the dodo bird. Fans will no longer have to pay the required price of $79.99 (USD) for a flagship event, as in the outgoing ESPN deal.
Beginning in 2026, all 43 UFC events on the annual schedule will be included in a Paramount Plus subscription at no additional cost. Select UFC flagship cards will be simulcast via linear television on CBS Sports.
Even like Paramount Plus will implement a price increase in the new year, it only costs one dollar, regardless of subscription. It’s a great deal and will remain so for the next seven years. Enjoy it.
What we should be thankful for in MMA in 2025: PFL redefines schedule
For our next article on what to be thankful for in MMA, we turn to the PFL. In 2025, MMA fans around the world were captivated by a restructured tournament format. For years, the PFL operated a schedule with a regular season, postseason and a championship card on New Year’s Eve and, in later years, Black Friday.
The season format was discontinued in 2025 in favor of a four-and-a-half-month world tournament and several cities in the United States. All of the tournament’s quarterfinal bouts were held at Universal Orlando for four cards over five weeks.
Recently, the PFL announced that the schedule would change again, with the World Tournament is stopped after the only staging. Instead of a tournament, the PFL will hold a more traditional event schedule in 2026, consisting of 24 shows.
It kicks off on Saturday, February 7 in Dubai before moving on to Madrid, Spain a month later. A market that hasn’t had a major MMA card in a long time will also be in action next year
What we have to be thankful for in MMA in 2025: PFL Pittsburgh is coming
Fans of MMA in area code 412 will have the opportunity to see the PFL in their own backyard later in 2026. While an exact date of the card has yet to be confirmed by the promotion, PFL Pittsburgh will also take place in March.
To find the last time a major MMA show took place at the ‘Burgh, you have to travel back to the summer of 2017. PPG Paints Arena hosted an FS1 UFC Fight Night, culminating in Luke Rockhold securing a second-round TKO after his opponent David Branch surrendered to his strikes.
As for what we have to be thankful for at MMA in Pittsburgh this year, it’s simple: They’ll be watching a top-level show for the first time in almost nine years.
What we should be thankful for in MMA in 2025: Dakota Ditcheva makes an exciting return in February!
Last on our list of what to be thankful for in MMA, we stay in the PFL and discuss women’s flyweight Dakota Ditcheva. Earlier this year, in the wake of her 2024 PFL Women’s Flyweight Championship run, Ditcheva was left out of the roster for the now-defunct World Tournament at 125.
Instead of a tournament run, she made her only appearance in 2025 at the PFL Champions Series 2 in Cape Town, South Africa, winning by unanimous decision after three rounds of action against Sumiko Inaba.
Since then she has been out of action due to breaking her hand, but a week before Valentine’s Day… she returns to the SmartCage. On February 7, Dakota Ditcheva will face Denise Kielholtz (8-5 MMA) in Dubai. Although there is no title on the line, the 15-0 Ditcheva will undoubtedly put on a show that night.
Happy Thanksgiving
This wraps up our look at what we have to be thankful for in MMA for 2025. On behalf of everyone here at MMA Sucka, we wish you a safe and happy Thanksgiving next Thursday. Enjoy your holiday.
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