Twitter will live stream PFL MMA content in a new deal announced 4 days before 2021 season

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Twitter will live stream PFL MMA content in a new deal announced 4 days before 2021 season
Anthony Pettis.Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
  • The Professional Fighters League has announced a content partnership with Twitter.
  • The social media platform will broadcast highlights from PFL events, as well as other content.
  • PFL returns Friday with its first event since 2019. Pettis fights Collard in the main event.
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Twitter will live stream PFL MMA content in a new deal announced four days before the start of the combat sports promotion's new season.

The New York-headquartered company is unlike other MMA firms because it structures itself in a league format commonly associated with major American sports like the NBA and the NFL.

This differs to the UFC, which PFL hopes to one day rival, as the MMA market leader holds standalone matches designed to propel winners up rankings systems until they one day challenge the champions in each weight class.

PFL's 2021 season begins Friday and will be broadcast on ESPN in the US. Social media platform Twitter, though, will live stream fight content, as well as real-time highlights from the show.

"Twitter and PFL are looking forward to advancing the sport by delivering a premium viewing experience to MMA fans worldwide," PFL CEO Peter Murray said in a statement sent to Insider.

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"Our partnership with Twitter, the place where MMA conversation thrives, will bring fans closer to the action by providing real-time content for our global fan base."

That content includes goings-on before the fight, during the fight, and after the fight, inclusive of general fight week activities like the bubble experience, weigh-ins, and post-event press conferences involving fighters.

"We are pumped about our new collaboration with the Professional Fighters League," said TJ Adeshola, who is the head of US sports partnerships at Twitter.

"MMA fans on Twitter are very engaged, and they're looking for creative new ways to experience fight content directly within their timelines.

"The PFL delivers an innovative product for the MMA community on Twitter and we look forward to bringing this epic partnership to life."

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The partnership begins this week and will be in place for the PFL's first show in the COVID-era on April 23.

The PFL postponed its 2020 season because of safety concerns related to the pandemic, stating that it wanted to protect the integrity of its league system.

The first half of the 2021 season takes place in a quarantined zone at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City.

Former UFC champion Anthony Pettis fights the Top Rank boxing cult hero Clay Collard in Friday's main event.

Natan Schulte and Lance Palmer, both past PFL champions, compete in separate bouts at the show. Up-and-coming prospect Brendan Loughnane, who is capable of enjoying a breakout year, will also compete.

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