The project
When the Professional Fighters League approached us to create the Cold Open for PFL Dubai: Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Alfie Davis, our objective was clear: deliver a cinematic, emotionally charged fight promo that would set the tone for fighter-first story telling moving in to the new ranking system era of the promotion.
On one side of the main event was an undefeated World Champion from the Dagestan Dynasty cornered by MMA royalty; Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov. On the other, an unorthodox kicker-boxer from GB Top Team who had a storming year in 2025 winning the PFL World Lightweight Tournament.
Project
PFL Dubai Show Open
Services
Creative Concepts, Production, Post Production.
Year
2026
Platforms
TV broadcast, YouTube, Social Media
Making Moves
This wasn’t just about promoting a main event — it was about crafting a high-impact sports film opener that captured the rivalry, high-stakes, and every fight matters nature of the PFL Dubai fight card.
Featuring undefeated lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and challenger Alfie Davis in the main event and undefeated Welterweights Ramazan Kuramagomedov and Shamil Musaev in a Welterweight World title fight, the Cold Open needed to feel premium, international, and worthy of a world title stage.
Featuring other fighters from the newly published PFL World Rankings allowed us to show the fans that every fight on this event mattered.
Checkmate
Checkmate
The film was well received by MMA globally and had over 1.7 Million views on Instagram in the first 12 hours.