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Alex Rodriguez invests in mixed martial arts company
Alex Rodriguez is betting on the growth of mixed martial arts. The former MLB star is now a partial owner of the Professional Fighters League after he contributed to a $30 million funding round, the company said Thursday. Rodriguez joined media investment firm Waverley Capital in the raise and will have a seat on PFL’s board of directors. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. This marks the second recent pro sports investment for Rodriguez. He became a co-owner of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves in April 2021, joining former Walmart e-commerce executive Marc Lore to buy the franchise for a reported $1.5 billion. Through his A-Rod Corp. firm, he invests in UFC-branded gyms.
Davis called Rodriguez’s interest in PFL a “mutual attraction.” “Alex is building a business career in sports that he wants to equal his baseball career,” he said. Davis called Rodriguez “innovative in his approach to investing and building companies.” Rodriguez credited PFL’s global reach as a reason for the interest. The league says it has 600 million fans globally and PFL matches are distributed in 160 countries. “The PFL continues to build and innovate for fans, media, and fighters, and there is massive demand in the marketplace,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
Two years after announcing his transition to MMA, former NBA player Royce White is set for his debut. White, who was drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2012, will meet former football player Daiqkwon Buckley on the main card of LFA 120, which takes place Friday at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minn., and streams on UFC Fight Pass.
Ariel Helwani: This is Myla Hill. She is 19. She just won her amateur MMA debut in Lakeland, Fla. She is also the daughter of basketball legend @realgranthill33. Incredible. (🎥 @mcarterwilliams) Grant Hill: 4 days later, and I'm still in awe of my daughter Myla's performance in her first amateur MMA fight. She was focused, composed (which her mother and I were not before & during the fight), aggressive & clearly not afraid of the moment inside the octagon. #TeamMyla #ProudDad
Myla Hill made her amateur mixed martial arts debut on Friday night in Lakeland, Fla. at Rival Fight League: Halloween Havoc, taking on Jenna Loza. Hill didn’t waste any time getting the fight to the ground after landing a right hand, ending up in full mount. After landing a series of punches, Hill, who is the 19-year-old daughter of former NBA star Grant Hill, was able to lock in a tight rear-naked choke to force the very quick tap in the opening round.
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Now, Williams is taking his obsession to the next level, partnering to develop a new gym in Deep Ellum named Fortis MMA. It's not simply an investment to watch others work out, grapple or punch. Williams would like to compete when his NBA career is over. "I think it would be realistic," he said. My coach "wants me to fight [in the cage]. I don't know about that. I will do some jiu-jitsu grappling tournaments."
Mavericks point guard Deron Williams is obsessed with mixed martial arts. "I don't miss fights," he said. "Every UFC fight, Fight Pass, if I miss them, I'll record them and watch them later."
Quincy Acy: McGregor the Goat!!!!!
Blake Griffin is famous for taking hard fouls. The Clippers' power forward recently trained with MMA fighter Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone to learn skills for all of the physicality he encounters down low as part of a video series with Red Bull called "The Crossover." "In basketball there's a lot of pushing, grabbing and shoving going on that nobody else sees," Griffin said in the video. "That's why I'm training with MMA fighter Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone."
"The thing that I really kept hearing him say is you don't want your head to get outside of your hips because then you're off balance and the same is true with basketball," Griffin said. "You always want to be in that athletic stance, and if you get pushed off your position, it's too hard to recover." Those skills are relevant for Griffin, who always seems to take a beating down low. In 2015, Griffin said: "My entire career everybody says I need to punch somebody." After Robin Lopez clotheslined Griffin in 2012, Lakers' superstar Kobe Bryant weighed in on the conversation, saying he would have responded with force.
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Mike Miller, who just recently signed a five-year, $30 million dollar deal to play with the Miami Heat, has been working alongside UFC fighters Ryan Bader, Aaron Simpson, and C.B. Dollaway as the group gets ready to open a new state-of-the-art facility in Arizona later this year. The new Miami Heat guard admits that he's a big fan of MMA, and definitely sees the benefits of working with fighters like those he's partnered with during the off season.
"I love it, it's one of my favorite sports for sure. I've always watched it and it's something that like the wrestling world, the same thing that's intriguing them, it's intriguing me. It's a high impact sport, a lot of action and it's fun to watch," said Miller in an interview with MMAWeekly.com. "The program that these guys are going through is the most ridiculous program I've seen. They work out harder than anybody. The hardest workouts I've ever been through, that's why I came down here though. I realized how hard these guys work, and I felt like I might as well join them. It's been a good experience."
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