What to be thankful for in MMA this year? It’s certainly a fair question to ask at this time, given that a wild year of fights only has one month left in it before 2025 is sent to the history file. This Thanksgiving weekend is a rarity on the MMA schedule.
After several years of holding its championship card on Black Friday, the PFL will be dark for Thanksgiving weekend in 2025. The promotion will return to action on the first weekend of December for the first of two cards in the year’s final month. We’ll have more on the PFL later in our look at what to be thankful for in MMA this year.
With no major MMA to be held over this Thanksgiving holiday weekend, MMA fans throughout the United States are going to be heading back to their hometowns over the coming days to gather at the family dinner table to break bread with their relatives and friends and count their blessings, Fans of competitive violence have plenty to be thankful for over the holiday.
Embed from Getty Images
As you prepare to pack up and head home for the Thanksgiving holiday or if you’re reading this in-between the football games on the holiday itself, take time out to look at what we, as fans of MMA, have to be thankful for. Hey, pass the pumpkin pie, please.
What to Be Thankful For in MMA in 2025: UFC Moves Cards to Paramount Plus
Our first item in the list of what to be thankful for in MMA this year is one that surprised everybody in the sport. Entering 2025, the UFC and its United States media rightsholder, ESPN/ ESPN+, were in the final year of a seven-year contract.
As is common in the business world, UFC CEO Dana White and his team looked at offers from any and all interested parties. including one from TNT Sports. To quote David Samson’s sign-off from his daily podcast: “It’s just business. It’s nothing personal.”
Fast-forward to the month of August, when Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance) swooped into the proceedings and offered a staggering $7.7 billion over seven years to secure the exclusive United States media rights to UFC events. This deal has since been amended to include audiences in Australia and Latin American countries including MMA hotbed Brazil.
What to be Thankful for in MMA: No More PPV Commitments
Even better: The longtime pay-per-view model has now gone the way of the dodo bird. No longer will fans need to fork over the requisite $79.99 (USD) price of a flagship event like in the outgoing ESPN deal.
Effective in 2026, all 43 UFC events on the annual itinerary will be included in a Paramount Plus subscription without any additional fee. Selected UFC flagship cards are to be simulcast via linear television on CBS Sports.
Even if Paramount Plus will be implementing a price hike in the new year, it’ll only be for a single dollar, regardless of subscription plan. It’s a sweet deal and it’ll be a sweet deal for the next seven years. Enjoy it.
What to Be Thankful for in MMA in 2025: PFL Redefines Schedule
For our next entry in what to be thankful for in MMA takes us to the PFL. In 2025, MMA fans the world over were captivated by a restructured tournament format. For years, the PFL employed a schedule featuring a regular season, postseason, and a championship card on New Year’s Eve and in later years, Black Friday.
The season format was discontinued in 2025 in favor of a World Tournament spanning four and a half months and several United States cities. All fights in the quarterfinal phase of the tournament were held inside Universal Orlando for four cards over five weeks.
Recently, the PFL revealed that its schedule would be changing again, with the World Tournament being discontinued after its one and only staging. In lieu of a tournament, the PFL will instead hold a more traditional schedule of events in 2026, consisting of 24 shows.
It’ll begin on Saturday, Feb. 7 in Dubai before moving onto Madrid, Spain a month later. A market that hasn’t had a major MMA card in a long time gets in on the action next year, as well
What to be Thankful for in MMA in 2025: PFL Pittsburgh Coming Soon
Fans of MMA in the 412 area code have a chance to see the PFL in their own backyard later on in 2026. Although an exact date of the card has yet to be confirmed by the promotion, PFL Pittsburgh will also take place in March.
To find the last time a major MMA show took place in the ‘Burgh, you’d need to travel back to the summer of 2017. PPG Paints Arena played host to an FS1 UFC Fight Night, highlighted by Luke Rockhold securing a second-round TKO after his opponent David Branch submitted to his strikes.
As far as what to be thankful for in MMA in Pittsburgh this year, that’s easy: They’ll be watching a top-tier show for the first time in close to nine years.
What to Be Thankful for in MMA in 2025: Dakota Ditcheva Makes Exciting February Return!
Finally on our list of what to be thankful for in MMA, we stay in the PFL and discuss women’s flyweight Dakota Ditcheva. Earlier this year, in the wake of her 2024 PFL Women’s Flyweight Championship run, Ditcheva was not included among the roster for the now-defunct World Tournament at 125.
In lieu of a tournament run, she made her one and only 2025 appearance during PFL Champions Series 2 in Cape Town, South Africa, winning by way of unanimous decision after three rounds of action versus Sumiko Inaba.
She’s been out of action ever since due to breaking her hand, but a week prior to Valentine’s Day, she’ll be back in the SmartCage. On Feb. 7 in Dubai, Dakota Ditcheva will battle it out against Denise Kielholtz (8-5 MMA.) Although no title is at stake, the 15-0 Ditcheva will put on a show without question that night.
Happy Thanksgiving
This wraps up our look at what to be thankful for in MMA for 2025. On behalf of everyone here at MMA Sucka, we wish you a safe and happy Thanksgiving this Thursday. Enjoy your holiday.
