Media Mogul John Martin Is Applying Billion-Dollar TV Lessons To PFL

There is a clear No. 1 when it comes to the global ranking for mixed martial arts promotions. The UFC holds that spot. If there was any question, the ownership of the top spot was legitimized by the company’s recent rights deal with Paramount Plus.

That said, the No. 2 promotion is just as clear across the MMA landscape.

The Professional Fighters League has built a reputation as MMA’s clear No. 2 promotion over the past seven years, but its new chief executive believes the growth trajectory is only beginning. John Martin, a veteran media executive who once helped engineer a $108 billion sale of Turner Broadcasting, now sees parallels between the television industry he helped shape and the fight business he’s been a fan of for 25 years.

I had a chance to speak to Martin recently to pick his brain on how his past experiences correlate with the new task at hand and how he’ll bring the lessons learned from previous experiences into his role as CEO of the PFL.

Martin, who holds a black belt in karate and has trained in multiple martial arts disciplines, says MMA has always resonated with him on a personal level.

“I became addicted to martial arts,” he recalled in his official PFL introduction. “It gave me discipline, self-respect, and something I now pass down to my children.”

That passion has carried into his new role, where he is focused on scaling PFL’s brand globally while keeping fighters and fans at the center.

But it’s his experience in media that may prove most valuable. As CEO of Turner, Martin oversaw 130 channels in nearly 200 countries, ultimately steering the company through one of the largest sales in media history.

He now sees a similar playbook at work in MMA.

“I grew up in the media and entertainment business,” Martin told me during our interview.

”When I ran Turner, there was a huge disparity between the audience of leaders and what they got paid versus the up-and-comers. Turner was an up-and-comer. While we delivered audiences consistent with broadcast, we were getting paid significantly less. So we went to the marketplace and said, hey, we’re a substitute product, but we’re not getting paid anywhere close to being substitutes. The same dynamic exists today between UFC and PFL.”

Martin believes the UFC currently dominates MMA with global visibility and revenue, but the category is far from winner-take-all. PFL, he argues, already generates roughly 30% of the audience that UFC draws on comparable events, yet monetizes at only a fraction of that rate.

Obviously, that’s an issue he wants to address.

“It’s not surprising that revenues lag audience,” Martin said. “But PFL has a terrific fighter roster, a global platform, increasing investment, and an exciting product. The brand and the revenues are just not where they need to be. That’s my job.”

Building Stars, That’s Very Important

One of Martin’s most urgent priorities is elevating fighter storytelling. He acknowledges that MMA athletes often struggle to build personal brands outside the cage, limiting their earning potential and the promotion’s ability to attract casual fans.

“We have to get the fighters, we have to get their personalities known,” Martin said. “We have to take those long-form stories, chop them up, make them snackable, and put them on TikTok, Instagram reels, or short YouTube videos. By the time the first round starts, fans should already know the fighter’s story, their goals, their strengths, their weaknesses. That’s how you build connection.”

This approach borrows from Martin’s media roots, where packaging and distribution were just as important as content creation. He also isn’t afraid to take cues from other entertainment forms. “I’d love more drama,” he admitted, noting that theatrical walkouts and rivalries—sometimes limited in UFC—could be areas where PFL innovates.

More Like Football Than American Football

Martin insists that PFL’s growth won’t just come from brand polish; geography is equally critical.

“Eighty-five percent of the global MMA audience is outside the U.S. Unlike the UFC’s model of staging one-off international events, we’ve already launched PFL Europe, PFL MENA, PFL Africa, and PFL Australia. In Africa, our first premium MMA event drew millions of viewers. UFC doesn’t have a presence there. We’re setting up international leagues where we’ll be around local fighters, creating a real pathway to the global stage.”

That strategy mirrors soccer’s structure more than American football.

“It’s not NFL versus XFL. It’s more like Premier League vs. La Liga, Serie A—multiple successful leagues coexisting globally.”

Media Rights And The Business Flywheel

Just as Turner grew by convincing advertisers and distributors of its value, Martin sees media rights as PFL’s biggest opportunity.

“UFC’s deal with Paramount—$1.1 billion a year—validated MMA as mainstream. We can leverage that validation to grow our own rights fees, sponsorship, licensing, merchandising, and live events.”

He describes his strategy as a “virtuous circle,” a business flywheel that starts with fans. “You get fans engaged, they spend more time and money with your brand, they become ambassadors, social media ignites it, and then you monetize. That cash allows reinvestment into fighters, events, and expansion. Success leads to more success.”

It’s a similar flow to what you see when a live service video game is built properly.

Fortnite, EA’s Ultimate Team and other collector modes didn’t come out of the gate charging for content. They established a value and attraction first before creating a lane for cashflow.

Playing the Long Game

Martin is clear-eyed about the challenges, which is refreshing.

As an MMA fan, more viable events is great. As an MMA journalist, the more promotions that draw fans, the more there is to write about and that strengthens your field of coverage.

UFC remains MMA’s juggernaut, and casual fans are still more likely to tune in when familiar names appear on the card. But Martin’s conviction is rooted in both personal experience and a career of scaling billion-dollar businesses.

“If you take the PFL letters off the cage and replace them with UFC, a lot of fans wouldn’t know the difference. That means we’re already a substitute product. Now we just need to monetize like one.”

For Martin, the path from Turner to the cage is less a leap and more a logical next step.

“My focus as CEO has always been: how do we grow the value and revenue of a business?” he said in his PFL bio. “With MMA’s global explosion, I see a transformational future for PFL. The opportunity here is unmatched in global sports.”

No one knows if the PFL will attain its goals for growth and increased legitimacy, but based on my experience as a consumer and the study of the success and failure of fight promotions, the concepts Martin presents has things pointed in the right direction.