Written by The PFL has a new chief executive officer.
On Thursday, the PFL announced that John Martin would be taking over as CEO after Peter Murray previously served in that role with the fight promotion. There’s no word on why Murray is out, but Martin takes over after an extensive career working in broadcast television.
In 2017, Martin was named to the Variety 500 — a yearly list recognizing the top 500 most influential business leaders in the entertainment industry. It was three years earlier when Martin left his previous post as the chief financial and administrative officer at Time Warner to become the new CEO over Turner Entertainment.
That tasked him with overseeing properties such as TBS, TNT, CNN and Turner Sports.
Martin left the company in 2018 after communications giant AT&T bought Time Warner and merged the companies together before rebranding as WarnerMedia.
Now Martin takes over as CEO at PFL during a pivotal time for the promotion as the organization continues to carve out its own space in the combat sports market, which is largely ruled by the UFC.
After making splashy headlines for purchasing Bellator from Paramount, PFL made significant changes in 2025 by eliminating the season long format and instead opting for a regular tournament while changing the prize for the eventual winners from $1 million to $500,000. PFL also did away with Bellator brand entirely and several prominent fighters exited the promotion.
The PFL is currently nearing the end of its 2025 tournaments along with a special card headed to Cape Town, South Africa on July 19 featuring former Bellator champions Johnny Eblen and Corey Anderson in marquee fights along with PFL superstar Dakota Ditcheva making her first appearance of the year.