It would be a bloody fight if it weren’t for the fluffy pillows. A sports championship created by American Steve Williams in mid-2018, the Pillow Fight Competition (PFC) has won over athletes and fans all over the world — but Brazil, you see, has consolidated itself as the main market. During a visit to the country, the businessman negotiates the tournament agenda and seeks local sponsors for the sport.
A serial entrepreneur, with companies in the telecommunications and real estate sectors, Williams was developing a project for a traveling ring, a model that could be dismantled on a truck, for MMA fights when his younger brother, aged 64, gave him the idea. Recalling the childhood game (which almost drove the Williams’ mother crazy), he suggested pillow fights as a less violent alternative to occupying the ring.
“At the time, I thought: this is the stupidest idea I’ve heard in my life. But he had the right arguments”, says the PFC CEO to Pipeline. “There were already many fight clubs in the United States, there was a lot of competition, and MMA was only legal in 11 American states. Furthermore, no big brand wants blood on their logo. The big sports sponsors to this day do not support more violent fights.”
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Timing, too, was essential. The project began just before the Covid pandemic, becoming known at a time when spectators were looking for so-called “comfort shows” and were not in the mood for violent things, says the entrepreneur (and what could be more comfortable than a pillow?). Williams started testing the idea with supermodels fighting in short shorts, but shortly after the first fight, he gave up. It was boring and controversial, he admits.
The executive then brought together some of the promises from boxing, MMA and jiu-jitsu, which gave new vigor to the dispute. Because, although it may not seem like it at first glance, the sport requires technique and endurance to handle the 90-second rounds and the pillows that weigh up to 1kg in industrial foam. Currently, some karate and martial arts academies promote the sport as a warm-up for children and teenagers.
PFC rules include not spitting or swearing at your opponent, not dropping a pillow and not standing still for more than three seconds (or 10 seconds in the case of a knockout takedown).
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In Brazil, the businessman found his dream team, not only because of its technical quality but because of the volume of talent available, he says. Around 30% of the world’s professional fighters are Brazilian. In the PFC, the statistic is even higher: more than half of the athletes. The first woman to win a world tournament in the sport, in 2022, was Brazilian Istela Nunes, aged 29, winning a prize of US$5,000. At 52kg, the fighter is linked to the UFC in the strawweight category.
The country was also one of the first to license Williams’ brand and form a local league, coordinated by the São Paulo Pillow Fight Federation (FPPF). Jéssica Barreiro da Costa is the current president of the institution and has helped attract local sponsors.
Abroad, the league’s main investors are consultancies and investment firms, such as SCCG Management, based in Las Vegas. Here, some of the sponsors include the property security group Rinna and the probiotics and supplements laboratory Bionad. Williams wants to get to Ambev. “We would love to have Brahma as a sponsor, Brazilian beverage brands, as is traditional in the United States. And the giants of the sport. Why not Nike?”, he hopes.
The ambition is no less in the sector. Williams’ goal is to one day have PFC recognized as an Olympic sport. Until then, it will seed the business globally. It has already managed to broadcast a TV channel and, after the USA and Brazil, it has licensees in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and India. A contract for the formation of a federation in Spain has also been negotiated.
In Brazil, the next disputes take place in July, in Rio, and in October, in São Paulo.
