Jonathan Coachman: Building Brands Vital to PFL Success

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Professional Fighters League executives have seen the quarterfinal rounds of the 2025 PFL World Tournament come and go. The first season of the single-elimination tournament format has already yielded positive results. With 21 finishes in 32 bouts to this point, the fighters have delivered on the platform the PFL provided. All eight weight classes have set their semifinals, and none carry more heat than the looming Final Four showdown at 170 pounds between former Bellator MMA champion Jason Jackson and Thad Jean.

Jonathan Coachman has been one of the faces and voices leading the charge for the new-look PFL, from his pre-fight interviews on “Coach’s Corner” and “Coach’s Conversations” to the post-fight press conferences. If it involves PFL business, Coachman discusses it. He, too, has high hopes for the PFL 2025 World Tournament 5 headliner matching Jackson with Jean on June 12 at Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

“Thad Jean could not be more confident, and deep down, he has respect for Jason Jackson,” Coachman told Sherdog.com. “What Jean has is what those ‘it’ athletes have. Those ‘it’ athletes have these steppingstone victories in their careers, and Jean believes that a victory over Jackson is a steppingstone that will lead him to the welterweight tournament championship. That, to me, is the storyline. Can the young guy defeat the established veteran? I think Jean could be the face of the PFL for the next 5 years, but this is the type of victory he’ll need.”

Now that the first round of the tournament has concluded, the PFL has examined the semifinalists and started telling the stories of the fighters all over again.

“This is the prizefighting game,” Coachman said. “That’s why after the first four weeks in Orlando, we’re resetting and we’re trying to have these fight camps and fighters understand that there’s an opportunity here. There’s a journey—there’s a road—and in the first semifinal main event, Jean and Jackson are driving the bus down this road to build superstars. There’s a lot these fighters [who] are asked to do so when they come out and have a spectacular performance. I see that way deeper than most fans do, and that makes me super excited for these two fighters.”

Fighters only get one shot! Watch the Semifinals of the PFL World Tournament LIVE Thursday, June 12 at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+

The first wave of PFL tournament bouts also provided a blueprint for the future and showcased exactly what the organization plans to do moving forward. It continued to part ways with known commodities to open pathways for younger fighters to take center stage.

“You cannot build a company on 40-plus-year-old stars that may have one or two fights left in them,” Coachman said. “Thad Jean told me that he wants to be the face of the PFL and doesn’t want to fight anywhere else, and as a company, we have to jump in the pool with them because that’s what we want, too. We’re in the game of building stars and getting the young fighters who have the look [and] ability to speak and sell themselves. That’s who we want to continue to build during this tournament.”

During the respite between the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the world tournament, the Professional Fighters League announced plans to launch PFL Pacific. It will be its fourth international branch alongside PFL Europe, PFL MENA, and PFL Africa, which debuts later this year. Coachman believes the ability to take fighters from certain regions and have them rise through the ranks to earn spots on the global roster serves the exact mission the PFL wants to accomplish.

“Why would we be so naive to think that throughout the world the only good fighters are from Russia and the United States?” he asked. “That’s ridiculous, but you have to launch and steadily find those stars. Stars do not grow on trees, and while it may not be hard to understand the vision, it can be hard to execute. But we are going to execute it. Finding stars in specific regions of the world [and] providing them the platform to grow and build their brand while adding wins to their professional record—that’s what we’re here to do.”