Pillow fighting could be the next great combat sport – no, seriously

“There’s just something so cathartic about getting hit in the head with a pillow,” posits Steve Williams as he grills a couple of steaks on the back deck of his catamaran. Catfish spin in the yacht’s neon stern lights, scanning the water’s surface for scraps of food on the Boca Raton harbor.

Williams, a terrifically large muscular man, queues up a video on his phone. It’s the second ever exhibition match produced by Pillow Fight Championship (PFC), an organization Williams founded in south Florida with the goal of turning pillow fighting into a professional sport. The match took place back in October, but tonight it’s available for the first time, free of charge, on Fite.tv, the premier direct-to-consumer streaming service for combat sports.

Despite a full stomach, two empty bottles of cabernet and the hum of trade winds, there’s a hint of anxiety on Williams’s face.

“I’m dying to know the stats for this fight,” he says.

People cheer on fighters at the PFC Pillow Fight Championship. Photograph: Bryan Cereijo/The Guardian

As Williams sees it, those stats, or number of streams, will determine the long term viability of his latest venture. In one week he will host the PFC Pound Down in Miami, his company’s largest organized pillow fight and the first pay-per-view event, where the sport’s inaugural champions will be crowned. A willing audience would be a boon for his cause.

“You don’t really need to explain [pillow fighting] to people – that’s the beauty,” says Williams.

The pillows – which make a crinkling sound like a dry diaper when held still and crack like a horsewhip when connecting with a cheekbone – are queen-sized, stuffed with foam and encased in nylon sailcloth. Fighters are matched up according to relative size