PFL slashes tournament grand prizes to $500K for 2025 season, ditches points system

PFL is making some changes in 2025.

The promotion has historically been known for its season tournament format, which rewards each division championship winner with a $1 million prize. Uncrowned confirmed with sources Wednesday that the payout for season winners is dropping in half to $500,000, beginning with the upcoming 2025 season in April.

The championship $1 million bonus was previously structured to be, for example, if a fighter was on a $50,000/$50,000 contract — $50,000 to fight, $50,000 to win — they earned $900,000 more with a tourney finals win, totaling the $1 million. Under the new model, $500,000 will be rewarded in addition to fighter-specific contracts.

Al Zullino was first to report the change, sharing leaks of what new contracts will look like.

According to sources, PFL is also expected to remove its tournament point system and become more of a traditional grand prix-style MMA tournament.

In past PFL seasons, fighters were awarded points for the speed of their victories. The faster the finish, the more points. Therefore, a first-round finish meant a "Quick Six" and six points on the scoreboard — the highest obtainable number. While the final version of the new format is still unclear, the shift away from the points system is intended to highlight prospects and up-and-comers throughout a PFL season, while moving the promotion's stars, title fights and bigger fights to Road to Dubai Champions Series events, such as the upcoming Jan. 25 show featuring a Bellator lightweight title bout between the champion Usman Nurmagomedov and Paul Hughes.

Zullino revealed more contract updates Wednesday, highlighting that PFL title challengers in non-season title bouts will receive a $50,000 bonus in addition to their standard show purse, with another $50,000 win bonus along with what's in their contract. Champions, like Nurmagomedov, will receive the same incentive but double those numbers at $100,000/$100,000. Regarding backup fighters, those on standby will receive $10,000 if they show up, make weight and go through fight week without entering the cage.

PFL has crowned six divisional tournament champions per year since 2018, equating to $32 million won in tournament grand prize money.