Pillow Fight Championship

The Pillow Fight Championship (PFC) is a professional sports organization that arranges competitive pillow fighting matches. It was founded by Steve and Paul Williams in 2021.
The PFC offers a unique style of combat sport that combines elements of boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) using specialized pillows.
The concept for Pillow Fight Championship originated during the COVID-19 pandemic when there was a demand for socially distanced sports and entertainment. Paul Williams presented his brother, entertainment entrepreneur Steve Williams, with the concept; Steve was initially not on board with the idea, later stating he was "kind of pissed about it", and that there was "no way that's going to work. Nobody wants to see pillow fighting." He was eventually convinced that pillow fighting was a better long-term business choice, rather than his own travelling "fight truck" concept, due to factors including MMA market oversaturation and sponsorship issues. The intention was to create a combat sport that was more advertiser- and family-friendly. Steve Williams stated in 2022 that "the only difference between our fights and MMA fights is that nobody gets hurt," and that PFC was for "people who don't want to see the blood."
The first event staged by the PFC took place in August 2021.
On January 29, 2022, the inaugural Pillow Fight Championship took place in Florida. The event featured 24 competitors, comprising 16 men and 8 women. Participants engaged in strategic pillow fights using specialized pillows weighing 2 pounds (0.91 kg). The tournament followed a bracket-style format, and was accessible to viewers as a pay-per-view event on FITE. Istela Nunes claimed the women's championship title by defeating Kendahl Voelker in the final match, while Hauley Tillman emerged as the men's division champion after prevailing over UFC fighter Marcus Brimage. Medical attention was required halfway through the round.
The 2023 Wogbejeke Pillow Fighting Championship took place on January 7, 2023 in Chorkor, Ghana. It was approved and sanctioned by Steve Williams. By November 2024, Williams was stating that the database of fighters interested in the PFC was nearly 5,000, and the company had made deals with 2500 Media for the rights to broadcast PFC on television, having already aired or streamed on The Ocho, YouTube, SFT Combat, DAZN and Brazilian national television.
The pillows used for the championship are specially designed; they feature unique handles and straps that can be used to maximise centrifugal force, shape-holding foam, and compression density. The pillow case is made from sail cloth, and features a waterproof and airproof polymer on one side. They make a unique sound when they make a hit, which Williams describes as a "phenomenal".
Steve Williams began the championship with regular down feather pillows weighing 3.5 lb (1.6 kg) from a now-defunct retail store, though found that fighters struggled to complete the initial 3 rounds of 2 minutes each due to their weight. Thus, he cut the 3 rounds to 90 seconds each and tried almost 100 different samples over the course of a year to find a suitable pillow for combat, settling on a 2 lb (0.91 kg) pillow.
These pillows, as of November 2024, fans were given the pillows at the end of each event, in an attempt to grow the sport.