UFC veteran Matt Brown has shot down PFL founder Donn Davis’ suggestion that they could become a ‘co-leader’ in MMA alongside the UFC after acquiring the Bellator promotion yesterday.
“He’s trying to get Dana to react, I’m guessing,” Brown said of Davis’ comments on ‘The Fighter vs. The Writer’ podcast. “To get more clicks or views or more eyes on it. Dana probably won’t even react. It is completely irrelevant.
“If I go to Walmart and someone recognizes me, and their brother asks who I am or their sister asks who I am, they’ll say, ‘He’s an Ultimate Fighter.’ They don’t say he’s an MMA fighter. He’s an ‘Ultimate Fighter.’ It’s like a Kleenex or a Q-Tip. That’s just what it is. UFC owns the sport.”
That being said, Brown does admit that it’s good for the sport to have a solid organization holding down the No.2 spot.
“He’s trying, you’ve got to give him that,” Brown said of Davis. “It’s a rough situation for them. Hopefully it brings the sport up. That’s all we care about. We’re all old-school MMA fans. We love seeing different promotions have great fighters. I remember PRIDE back in the day, I used to love PRIDE back in the day.
“I think it’s cool. I think it’s good for the sport. It’s cool that they’re making moves. They’re coming up and they’re doing good things. Both of them seem like good organizations. It’s just hard to believe they’re ever going to compete with the UFC. So it’s great to have something else out there that’s still a good quality product, something that’s going to give the fans something else to watch.”
Nevertheless, Brown doesn’t expect the UFC brass to be looking over their shoulders in fear any time soon.
“They’re never going to be the co-leader,” Brown said of PFL. “They’re a distant No. 2, that’s what it is. But having some different matchups, a little different format [is good for the sport].”
