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Five Finger Death Punch‘s Zoltan Bathory has expanded his jiu-jitsu league, the Professional Grappling Federation (PGF), with a larger broadcast footprint and the addition of a third team, the Philadelphia Phenoms, with the hopes of turning the martial art into a major league sport.
Bathory and his PGF co-owners Brandon McCaghren, Heather Grace Gracie, and Keelan Lawyer announced the news via a press release on Thursday (August 28th). The Phenoms become the third team in the PGF (alongside the New Hope Kings and the Alabama Twisters) following a seven-figure franchise sale to entrepreneur and jiu-jitsu competitor/community advocate Lauren Barone, who makes history as the PGF’s first female team owner.
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“This is what it must have felt like to get in on the ground floor of the NFL or the NHL,” said Zoltan Bathory in the press release. “The difference is, this time the format was engineered for scale from day one. Once we opened the doors to team ownership, the floodgates opened — the New Hope Kings were first, then the Philadelphia Phenoms, followed by the Alabama Twisters, with more already in negotiations. At this pace, we anticipate expanding to eight to 12 teams in the coming months, which puts us firmly on track toward the 16-team national league we originally envisioned.”
Added Barone: “I am beyond grateful that this is the path my life has led me down — building a PGF team and becoming part of a league that’s reshaping the future of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.”
The Phenoms will begin competition with the Kings and Twisters for the PGF’s upcoming ninth season. The league expanded its broadcast deal via UFC Fight Pass for its seventh and eighth seasons, and the league’s broadcast footprint expands even further with the removal of paywalls for Season 9.
As mentioned, the goal for Zoltan — a competing judo and jiu-jitsu black belt — is to expand the PGF into a full-blown major league sport.
“Jiu-jitsu is the fastest-growing combat sport in the world, and it’s becoming the sport of royalty,” said PGF commissioner Brandon McCaghren. “From everyday people to A-list celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg, Tom Hardy, Keanu Reeves, and Guy Ritchie, everyone is on the mats now. PGF is here to harness that momentum and lead jiu-jitsu into its professional era.”
Meanwhile, Zoltan Bathory is also busy on the music front with Five Finger Death Punch. The band is performing this Labor Day weekend at Rocklahoma, and has been re-recording old material, a la Taylor Swift, in a bid to recover song royalties.
English (US) · 