GFL Draft Wasn’t Just Predetermined, League Had Final Say

GFL Draft 2025
Credit: GFL

GFL Founder Darren Owen was happy with the performance of the league’s inaugural draft this Friday, despite much of the draft order leaking when the broadcast went live five minutes early.

Yet aside from the draft picks being predetermined, as it turned out, Owen basically had the final say anyway, with fighters placed where they would make the most sense in terms of logistics and fanbase.

Not really a “draft,” then. The issue was one of several addressed during an appearance by the GFL exec on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday.

“I guess one of the streams went live early, about five minutes earlier than they should of when they were still kind of testing and kind of going through some different things. So one of the graphics that got shown was theoretically the draft board,” noted Owen, who would suggest that the error actually worked in the league’s favor. “I don’t know if ultimately it was a bad thing, because based on that, we were trending on X, the number one topic in the United States that evening. We trended on Google over the weekend. Was it a blessing in disguise maybe that this got leaked?”

“It wasn’t the plan, but it happened, you sort of deal with it and move forward.”

Asked for his response about the draft being predetermined, Owen replied “Yeah, absolutely. There’s a lot that went into that production of it. The reality is, I consulted with the coaches, the managers, [on] who they wanted on their team. What makes sense based on- we’re stacking the deck, Ariel. That’s the reality of this thing. You said it, everyone said it, we all want to make sure we get the fights we want to see. So given the fact too, we also own and operate all the teams ourselves. So making trades, doing the logical thing to create the match-ups people want to see, we’ll get creative with it.”

To fighters who weren’t picked, or weren’t drafted when (or where) they wanted, “you can blame me,” added Owen. “Ultimately I kind of have final say. We did get all the feedback, we had planned on going live, picks one through 120. The duration that that would have taken was significantly longer than anyone wanted to tune in for.”

“Ultimately we wanted to put the right fighters on the right teams to also create the logical match-ups. ATT fighters wanted to be in Miami, fighters based in California wanted to be on that team, Sao Paulo mostly Brazilians and South Americans.”

Big names and global representation appear to be key attributes the GFL was looking for, rather than simply stacking teams with competitive fighters who could help their city win.

“There was that aspect that came into it too, let’s let logic prevail on how these teams should come to fruition. Also getting the feedback, but we need needle movers. We need fighters that have the biggest fan bases possible. And that was kind of more the determining factor – which athletes are going to generate the most revenue for us, and which fighters are going to be future global superstars. And also brining in athletes from all around the world so we have representation from major countries around the world.”

Later during his appearance on the show, Owen also addressed Rashad Evans stating that he was drafted without his consent. “We had a few athletes that were in the draft based on their managers saying yes, 100% put them in the draft,” Owen explained, adding that a small number had not physically signed their agreements. “We’re dealing with I’d say two or three of the 120 that we’re working through. So we’ll see how that all pans out.”

Among them was Evans, the former UFC light heavyweight champion. Prior to the draft, according to Owen, Evans’s manager had given him the green light to put him in the draft. “So we put him in. Rashad obviously came out afterwards and said ‘hey, I didn’t sign,’ but I think if you look at the history of drafts, are any of those athletes signed before they get drafted to the team? No. Eric Lindros, Stevie Francise, Eli Manning, there’s a lot of examples of things that happen post-draft, and this is just similar format to that.”

The door isn’t closed on Evans fighting for the GFL, according to Darren Owen. While he may be boxing Rampage Jackson in April, Evans doesn’t necessarily need to fight for GFL in April. That’s just when the league launches.