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PFL Washington just saw the promotion crown a new welterweight champion, but that wasn’t what everyone was talking about at the end of the night. Instead, fans watching on ESPN were left wondering what just happened as the network unexpectedly switched from the live broadcast to a breakdancing competition.
The interruption came during PFL Washington, where Thad Jean captured the vacant welterweight title with a hard-fought victory over late replacement Ernesto Rodriguez. And the incident surely arrives at an awkward time for both parties. The PFL’s media rights deal with ESPN expires this year, and the promotion is already looking for new broadcast partners after expressing frustration with ESPN’s lack of promotion.
Earlier this year, PFL CEO John Martin publicly attacked the network, claiming that fans frequently complained about being unable to find PFL events due to poor scheduling and insufficient promotion.
“I tend to be very direct, but I think what I’m saying is factually correct,” Martin told Ariel Helwani. “They’re not doing anything to help promote and make it easy for our viewers and fans to find us.
“I can’t tell you the number of incoming complaints that people write in — they say, ‘I was actively looking to find your event, and I couldn’t find it. I didn’t know when it was on.”
Martin also revealed that the promotion has already held talks with possible partners, such as Netflix and Fox, because ESPN’s exclusive negotiation window expired without a new agreement, and seeing how frustrated the PFL CEO is, it isn’t much of a surprise.
ESPN had the PFL broadcast on ESPNews and then all of a sudden it switched to a breakdancing competition with no warning whatsoever.
Did ESPN literally fire everybody and now it's being run by AI? #PFLDC
“I was hoping the PFL was going to become more important to [ESPN],” he added. “We haven’t seen that in terms of better scheduling, better network access, and then of course the marketing and promotion, but the tune-in and on-air promotion– and we’ve seen none of that. So that speaks volumes to what their commitment might be to mixed martial arts.”
Ironically, this isn’t the first time ESPN has come under fire for abruptly cutting away from live sports. During the 2024 NHL playoffs, the network accidentally switched away from a tied Eastern Conference semifinal game between the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes with less than a minute left in regulation before returning to the game.
And as expected, they faced major fan backlash from NHL fans watching at home back then. Similarly, the MMA Twitter-sphere also made sure that ESPN knows that their latest blunder didn’t go unnoticed this time around either.
Fans and Islam Makhachev’s manager rip ESPN over broadcast blunder
The abrupt switch quickly sparked outrage across social media, with even Islam Makhachev‘s longtime manager, Ali Abdelaziz, weighing in.
“ESPN MMA treat PFL MMA like stepchild, disgusting,” Abdelaziz wrote on X.
Many viewers initially thought the problem was on their end before realising ESPN had changed the broadcast. “Batteries in my remote died at the same time. I was both terribly confused and a hostage in my own home there for a few minutes,” one fan joked. Another added, “I was tweaking & thought I sat on the remote tf was that.”
Other fight fans argued that the incident was simply another example of ESPN failing to give the promotion the attention it deserves. One frustrated fan wrote, “ESPN sucks, watching skaters when I should be watching PFL. ESPN always screws PFL with something else that’s live. SMH.”
“Please ESPN put more effort into PFL. It’s never going to be UFC numbered events but the main cards are better than some UFC fight nights (Baku and Abu Dhabi this cleared) can’t have the fights starting on ESPNNEWS for X games. PFL has potential,” another viewer tweeted.
Another echoed that sentiment, saying, “ESPN clearly doesn’t care about PFL at all. Which sucks.”
Many online described the moment they realized the feed had unexpectedly changed. “Earlier, I was watching @PFLMMA on @espn and right in the middle of the fight, without touching any controls, it changed to a break dancing competition,” one user posted.
Another admitted, “For a hot second, I literally thought that PFL was just doing break dancing in between rounds for the main card.” Others initially assumed the interruption was simply an ad break. A fan wrote, “I thought it was just a commercial at first so I was waiting for the fight to restart!”
With the PFL aggressively looking for a new broadcast home in 2027, Saturday night’s incident is unlikely to help ESPN’s case. Instead, the sudden switch only added to the promotion’s long-standing complaints that its events have not received the visibility and attention they deserve.
The post Islam Makhachev’s Manager Joins Fans in Slamming ESPN for Abruptly Cutting PFL DC Live Broadcast appeared first on EssentiallySports.
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