The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is surely looking to make big waves in the MMA circuit. With UFC leading the charge as the top promotion, PFL is taking some major steps to level up its cards. And as it seems, they have another talent to bolster their roster. But does that fighter have what it takes to create more buzz around PFL?

Japanese fighters are currently making their mark in MMA. While in UFC, veterans like Kyoji Horiguchi are proving their mettle against elite competition, the buzz around a potential UFC event in Japan is rising. Amid that, their competition, PFL, is not shying from investing in Japanese stars as they signed one of the regional champions.

Keisuke Sasu signs for PFL

“[Announcement] I’ve signed a multi-year exclusive contract with @pflmma. Thank you for your tremendous support; I will give it my all,” wrote Keisuke Sasu in an Instagram post. He will be joining the Professional Fighters League after a successful stint at Shooto.

Sasu also reigned as their featherweight champion and successfully defended the title three consecutive times before leaving the promotion. After that, the Japanese fighter joined RIZIN for a brief period of time, where he came out for only one fight. In that bout, Russian Viktor Kolesnik stood as a strong competitor to defeat Sasu via TKO.

And now, ‘Sasuke’ will be directly making his PFL debut on his next fight outing. While his stint at Shooto is impressive, Sasu’s overall MMA record (14-4-1) is also quite decent. Amid that, the Japanese fighter’s MMA career also has another interesting tale.

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The leading MMA promotion runs a tournament series under the name “Road to UFC.” Through that, the UFC taps into the Asian MMA markets. The tournament runs on a “win and advance” rule, where the fighters’ wins get direct entry to the leading MMA promotion. And interestingly, Sasu also competed in that tournament. But with one win out of three fights, he couldn’t make it to the UFC.

On rare occasions, fighters with a standout performance at “Road to UFC” also get a contract. Take Zhang Mingyang, for example. Mingyang entered as an underdog in his tournament fight against Tuko Tokkos. But with an opening round knockout, he caught the attention of Dana White & Co. And with that single performance, he earned the UFC contract.

While ‘Sasuke’ did win a fight at “Road to UFC”, that wasn’t enough to impress the head honchos. However, amid that, Japan has always been a premium market for MMA fighters. Promotions like RIZIN and PRIDE FC have nurtured and produced several top-level fighters. Kyoji Horiguchi and Kai Asakura, who are currently signed with UFC, would arguably be two of the big names on that front.

Notably, the signing of Sasu will be another addition to PFL’s promising roster. Over the last few years, the budding promotion has been signing several big names. Take Francis Ngannou, for example. And this comes as part of their goal to become one of the leading MMA promotions.

Now, with PFL taking such major steps to ensure its growth, they surely compete strongly against UFC. However, amid that, is also going through some big changes in the top management.

Donn Davis resigns as PFL chairman

While the Japanese talents are being recognized by PFL, they could potentially tap into the Asian MMA market. With the budding MMA promotion already having its branches in Africa and various other European nations, an entry into the Asian market could potentially put them in close competition with the UFC.

However, amid all the signings and scanning of potential markets, the founder of PFL, Donn Davis, stepped down from the chairman position. “Today, I’m stepping down as Chairman of PFL,” Donn Davis wrote. “From the moment I founded Professional Fighters League eight years ago, it has been my life. My vision was to create an innovative and premium MMA company as the valuable alternative for those that want or need it.”

“We started with nothing except universal skepticism and against all odds we succeeded. Now PFL is the clear No. 2 MMA company worldwide and the only other premium product,” Davis continued, asserting that he surely believes PFL now stands as the second-best MMA promotion in the world.

For him, the promotion surely meant everything. “PFL Global footprint, valuable assets, and market position has never before been achieved in MMA outside of UFC. I’m confident this foundation should lead to great future success,” Davis added. “PFL changed the great sport of MMA for the better, meaningful innovations, unique global expansions, fighter empowerment.”

And that’s something which many wouldn’t argue over. However, amid the management changes, could PFL still stay as a steady boat in the rough circuit of MMA? Also, will that depend on their new signings, like Keisuke Saku? Only time will tell. But surely, there are interesting times ahead with both UFC and PFL tapping into the Asian markets.