Kayla Harrison’s UFC jump, Conor McGregor’s BKFC interest highlight PFL’s biggest challenge in competing with MMA giant

It seems PFL CEO Donn Davis may have been a little more stung by Kayla Harrison’s recent departure than we initially thought. Speaking to the “Weighing In” podcast this week, Davis put the former champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist’s move to the UFC in the context of an NBA analogy that raised some eyebrows.

“Some people who are at the very, very, very top of their careers are LeBron James and some people who are at the very, very top of their careers are Kevin Durant,” Davis told John McCarthy and Josh Thomson. “They’re both otherworldly basketball players, but who they are as people is very different. One wants to lead and change their sport and wherever they are, they’re the best in the world. The other is a follower who needs validation, and there was nothing we could do about that.”

Did you hear that? Harrison didn’t go to the UFC after nearly six years in the PFL for more money or career opportunities, Davis says. She went for validation. Because she’s a follower. And no matter how hard the PFL tries, it can’t change who she is as a person.

That’s an unkind interpretation of Harrison’s move, to say the least. It also has a very jilted-lover vibe to it, which is perhaps not the best way to seduce public opinion in the MMA world, especially in the same week that we’ve heard a whole new round of complaints from Gegard Mousasi about the PFL’s alleged difficulties in getting it to honor its Bellator contract.

But suppose, for the sake of argument, that this analysis is at least somewhat accurate. Suppose that part of Harrison’s motivation for signing with the UFC was the sheer influence of the whole thing. Would that make her wrong?

I found myself thinking about this more after some recent comments from Conor McGregor about why he decided to become a part owner of Bare Knuckle FC recently. He told The Mac Life that the rise of BKFC “popped the UFC competition like a balloon,” with McGregor explaining why he thought the bare-knuckle boxing promotion presented a more attractive alternative to the UFC than any other real MMA organization.

McGregor isn’t entirely wrong here. BKFC, while perhaps a niche within a niche, not to mention one that’s too extreme or intense for even the most ardent MMA fan, does offer an alternative to the UFC that asks and answers different questions about the fighters we already know. How excited would we be to see someone like Gaethje go to the PFL, a promotion he’s essentially fought for before, albeit in a slightly different form? Gaethje vs. BKFC, on the other hand, feels like it carries with it such potential for blood and violence that it should be illegal.

Still, competition in the MMA space is a good thing. It drives up pay for fighters and gives promoters more incentive to give fans a better product. The problem that many MMA promoters struggle with is how to offer something that feels like it’s filling a need that the UFC doesn’t.

That’s why we’ve seen so many attempts over the years to change everything from the format (teams, tournaments) to the fighting surface (don’t tell me I’m the only one who remembers the YAMMA pit). The UFC has so thoroughly monopolized the market for mainstream MMA content, which rolls out on a visually consistent conveyor belt nearly every weekend of the year, that you really have to get creative to grab fan attention elsewhere.

For fighters, contract decisions should always come down to two things. The first and most important consideration is money. Who is going to pay you the most for your next fight(s)? And don’t make the mistake of thinking too far ahead on that question, as longevity is never, ever guaranteed in this sport. The second consideration is career development. Who can give you a valuable, but perhaps elusive, career boost that you don’t yet have?

Harrison went as far as she could with the PFL. She won titles. She decimated the competition. She was the face of the organization for a few years. What good is more of the same? And, knowing how MMA fans feel when the topic of legacy comes up, who could blame her for wanting to add UFC champion to her resume before it’s too late?

That’s not desperate validation-seeking behavior — that’s common sense. If we’re making sports analogies, it’s playing it as it is. Davis doesn’t necessarily have to like the end result, but he might want to think twice about how he frames it. It might grab headlines, but it also comes with a level of scrutiny. Plus, this sport already has a bombastic promoter who’s prone to verbal jabs. There, too, you could find a way to offer an alternative rather than a copycat.