The fledgling MMA “league” was supposed to launch in May, with dates at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles just recently announced. May 24 and 25 was to host two admittedly stacked cards, had they gone down as planned.

Those dates, however, are off. News of the cancellation was confirmed by multiple sources on Wednesday, including Fight Oracle (formerly Front Row Brian) and Ariel Helwani. MMA Junkie’s Nolan King confirmed the cancellation with the California State Athletic Commission, while GFL officials provided a brief statement to Cageside Press.

“Our main investor didn’t fund his April obligation which has caused some issues however we have a solution in place,” wrote Global Fight League Founder Darren Owen. “Likely have to postpone until June but we’ll be good. Just a bump in the road but everything moving forward.”

The GFL staged a much talked-about and poorly staged “draft” back in January, which turned out to have been pre-determined. While it might have been looked at as a bump in the road and did get people talking, the cancellation of the league’s two dates in Los Angeles next month have many suspecting the promotion is the MMA equivalent of vaporware.

Numerous legendary MMA names are linked to the company, including Yoel Romero, Tony Ferguson, Holly Holm, and Urijah Faber, all of whom were expected to compete in May.

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As first reported by MMA Mania’s Alex Behunin, Urijah Faber (35-11) is set to face off against Renan Barao (36-10, 1NC) for a third time. GFL officials later announced the match-up, which does not have a location or date as of yet.

Faber represents Team Los Angeles, and Barao Team Sao Paulo, in the GFL’s league-based format, which is expected to launch this Spring.

A former UFC title challenger and WEC featherweight champ, Faber has long been considered one of the best fighters to never win gold inside the UFC octagon. He faced Barao twice during their respective UFC runs, losing to the Brazilian in 2012 (for an interim bantamweight title) and then again in 2014 (for the undisputed title). “The California Kid,” now a middle-aged man at 45, has not fought since a 2019 loss against Petr Yan. Prior to that, he had ended a three-year retirement by defeating Ricky Simon.

Unlike Faber, Barao (who held gold from his 2012 interim title win to a May 2014 loss against T.J. Dillashaw) struggled immensely towards the end of his UFC run. He lost his final five fights in the company, then dropped a sixth on the regional circuit in 2023. Barao has not competed since.

In comparison to Urijah Faber at 45, Renan Barao is all but a spring chicken at 38 years young.

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On Friday, a day following the announcement of their first three “confirmed” match-ups (all without dates or locations attached), GFL officials revealed on social media that Frank Mir vs. Fabricio Werdum is scheduled to happen.

As with the league’s previous announcements including Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold 2, no date or location has been attached. However, reaction was not all that positive to the most recent announcement, especially given the age of the fighters in question.

Frank Mir is 45, and has been through wars and injuries. Fabricio Werdum is 47, and not the kind of freak, father-time defying 47 that Yoel Romero is. Over 90 years of life experience between them.

“The combined age of these fighters is 92 years old,” one fight fan said in response on Twitter/X, complete with face-palm emoji.

Former UFC heavyweight champ Mir has not competed in MMA since a 2019 decision win over Roy Nelson that somehow left Nelson looking like the more viable fighter (Big Country went on to a 1-1 record in Gamebred Bareknuckle FC in 2023). Mir on the other hand opted to try his hand in boxing, then the short-lived spectacle that was “Triad Combat,” losing both outings.

Aside from the Nelson win, Mir has lost his four fights in MMA and was finished in three of them.

Fabricio Werdum (24-10-1, 1NC) last competed for the aforementioned Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA, losing a rematch with former UFC foe Junior Dos Santos in 2023. The Brazilian defeated Alexander Gustafsson in 2020 in “Vai Cavalo’s” final UFC fight, then had a fight in the PFL, where he was defeated by Renan Ferreira – until it was determined that Ferreira had tapped to a Werdum triangle choke shortly before the TKO “finish.” The result was later overturned to a No Contest.

Like Mir, Werdum is a former UFC heavyweight champ, winning gold in 2015 by defeating Cain Velasquez.

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Following a much-maligned draft last month which turned out to be predetermined, and which featured the accidental broadcast of the draft order prior to the official live stream launching, the league has informed fighters of just how the team-based format will play out.

With six teams involved, it appears each city will host a GFL event from April through August. Per a report by MMA Junkie, the breakdown is as follows:

• April: Los Angeles
• May: New York
• June: London
• July: Miami
• August: Dubai
• September: Sao Paulo

GFL officials had previously confirmed to Cageside Press that the regular season would commence in April. Per this new report, it appears fighters will compete in alternating months. The first round of match-ups, in April, will be as follows:

• Los Angeles vs. New York
• Dubai vs. Miami
• London vs. Sao Paulo

Playoffs will follow, with a championship event scheduled for November.

In a surprising twist to the GFL’s fighter-friendly format, athletes will not be permitted to wear sponsors on their fight kits. However, any fighter that brings the promotion a sponsor it successfully signs a deal with will earn a 20% commission.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the GFL also announced a partnership with Box to Box, an Emmy-winning production company, to create a “flagship docuseries” in conjunction with the launch of the league’s first season. Box to Box is also expected to be involved with live event broadcasts, and will create “in-depth athlete profiles into and through the first season.”

“The GFL is pioneering a new chapter in MMA, and we’re thrilled to partner with them to bring their vision to life,” said Paul Martin, Founder of Box to Box. “We will help shape how the league and its athletes connect with audiences worldwide through groundbreaking content.”

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It hasn’t been smooth sailing to this point: several of the names included in the draft pool have disputed having anything to do with the GFL, including UFC alum Andreas Michailidis, who is under contract with Oktagon MMA and taking part in their Tipsport Gamechanger tournament.

Others, including Dillon Danis, Frank Mir, Junior Dos Santos, seem like longshots at best to ever actually fight. Of course, being “eligible” for the GFL draft doesn’t mean a fighter will actually be drafted. At least some athletes have been offered what amounts to a letter of intent, with contracts to be signed once a fighter is drafted by one of the six GFL teams (fighters also have until the end of January to decline a contract offer).

Six teams are set for the league’s inaugural season:

New York, Miami, Los Angeles, London, Sao Paulo, and Dubai. Three U.S. teams, and three international ones, led by names like Cain Velasquez, Wanderlei Silva, Lyoto Machida and more. The teams break down as follows:

• Miami, FL – Manager: Thiago “Pitbull” Alves, Coach: Conan Silveira
• Sao Paulo, Brazil – Manager: Lyoto Machida, Coach: André Pederneiras
• London, U.K. – Manager: Luke Barnatt, Coach: Carl Prince
• New York, NY – Manager: TBD, Coach: Ray Longo
• Dubai, UAE – Manger: Cain Velasquez, Coach: Javier Mendez
• Los Angeles – Manager: Wanderlei Silva, Coach: Rafael Cordeiro

Friday’s draft is scheduled to take place in Phoenix, AZ starting at 8PM ET, 5PM PT, with the draft streaming live on multiple platforms including Youtube, Rumble, DAZN, and Twitch. We’re going to provide a live blog throughout; a table including many of the draft-eligible fighters as provided by the GFL can be found below (this table includes signings provided by the GFL current as of January 3, 2025 plus announcements the league has made since that date. Weight classes provided by GFL).

Inaugural GFL Draft Live Blog

• 7:50PM ET – well, we’re 10 minutes away now, and it looks like this is actually happening! Not going to lie, there were some doubts. There are still a lot of questions about how this all came together, who is financing the GFL, how the teams are funded, and even how the draft works, but it looks like we will find out some of those answers shortly! FYI, the tables below are by no means meant to be comprehensive; there may be a few fighters missed, since the GFL could only provide a record up to early January, and the rest was scraped from social media announcements. Also, you may see some fighters listed in two weight classes, as they may be eligible for both.

• 7:55PM ET – We’ll add fighters under their respective teams as they’re drafted (along with weight class). As they’re drafted, we’ll mark them as bold in the tables below.

• 7:58PM ET – We’re live! Wait, no we’re not. We get a shot of the desk, Robin Black is in the house, but no audio, and we’re back to a splash screen. Well, they still have a few minutes…

• 8:00PM ET – Oooh a countdown clock! Let’s build the anticipation. And there’s definitely audio now, because the music is pounding.

• 8:03PM ET – AND HERE WE GO! We’ve got a CG spaceship flying through a bustling metropolis, and the likes of Holly Holm, Luke Rockhold, Tyron Woodley, Paige VanZant, Junior Dos Santos and more decked out in futuristic gladiator garb. Basic league promo, with the big names featured. Interesting little video. Now we get to a more specific draft intro, highlighting the six cities involved.

• Now that we’re underway and this is live and actually happening, we’ll do away with the time stamps. Mike Goldberg anchors the broadcast booth for the draft, alongside Robin Black and Brendan Schaub, and it sounds like we’re going to get some info on how the draft works. One problem – that early bit of video that aired before the broadcast launched included a graphic of each team’s draft picks. Was this all pre-determined, and they’re just putting on a show?? Guess we’ll find out soon.

• League commissioner Darren Owen is on screen now, with a backdrop that looks like it came out of a Zoom meeting. He’s giving his sales pitch for the league, saying they wanted to be “truly global,” and having teams on four continents is a step in the right direction

• Each team is capped based on revenue sharing, but no numbers are given. Outside of it being a 50/50 split, but what’s the overall salary cap? Would have been nice to know.

• More of the CG promo. “The future of fighting is here.” And it’s AI. The promo. The promo looks heavily AI. Please stop with AI “art” / videos already. They always look so plastic.

• Brendan Schaub opines that if he was running a GFL team, he’d be looking for a locker room leader. A “Tom Brady,” he gives as an example. Sure, but how much is a locker room leader doing for a sport that, even with teams, still comes down to individual effort?

Round 1

• First pick time! Darren Owen announces Dubai has selected Tyron Woodley!!! Woodley is on air (remotely) now, interviewed about being the first pick. He’s excited about getting match-ups he didn’t get a chance at in the UFC.

• Schaub just called Woodley a Tom Brady-style character. Well, they are close in age… (actually five years apart, but still).

• Los Angeles selects “Super” Sage Northcutt second overall. Not a good sign. He was L.A.’s first pick on the graphic that aired accidentally earlier. So, the draft was pre-determined? Sage will compete at lightweight. Didn’t he sign with the PFL recently?

• London gets Gegard Mousasi. Smart pick, for obvious reasons. Fought and won everywhere. Dude fought at heavyweight. Fought in PRIDE. UFC. Strikeforce. Bellator. And now GFL. And yup, he was London’s first pick on that leaked graphic, so this all could have been a press release.

• Miami selects Junior Dos Santos as their first pick. We knew that already.

• Sao Paulo takes Brazil’s own Fabricio Werdum. Gee, wonder if JDS and Werdum meet again? Interesting, Wedum wasn’t the first pick on the leaked graphic. A mock draft perhaps? Did they change this up on the fly? At least it means there might be a surprise or two.

• Closing out round 1, New York goes with “Motown Phenom” Kevin Lee. That’s back to the leaked order. So far, only Woodley (the first overall pick was hidden) and Werdum have been surprises.

• Aside from Ray Longo, we haven’t heard from any of the coaches or managers. And he didn’t even announce his own team’s pick. This should have been done properly, with the team managers/coaches on hand, or at least on Zoom/video chat, making their selections. Underwhelming, if that’s a word.

Round 2

• New York gets CHRIS WEIDMAN!! Okay, there’s a real surprise (his draft placement). He just “retired” from the UFC. No shock here, but would have preferred him as the Team New York manager. He hadn’t been announced by the GFL but his involvement was a possibility after he “retired” from the UFC recently.

• Sao Paulo takes Douglas Lima, former Bellator welterweight champ. He’ll be fighting at middleweight. Robin Black gives a little nod to Bellator, “rest in peace.”

• Anthony Pettis, at lightweight, goes to Miami.

• Lodon takes Alexander Gustafsson for their second pick. At light heavyweight (he had dabbled at heavyweight).

• We’re not even done the second round of drafting, and we’re almost an hour in. This is going to need a RIZIN-style intermission.

• Aspen Ladd, listed as a bantamweight(?), drafted by Los Angeles.

• Abubakar Nurmagoemdov is chosen by Dubai. That closes out Round 2 of the draft. Credit to Robin Black for suggesting if you have the name Nurmagomedov, “you probably wrestled bears as a kid.” Might as well keep this light.

• We’ve had Ray Longo, Wanderlei Silva, and now Luke Barnatt on the broadcast. At least the managers/coaches are involved. Barnatt says he’d got his eye on Josefine Knutsson, who is 8-1, out of the UFC off a single loss. Safe bet London takes her.

• 4 points for a finish, 3 for a decision, 2 for a draw, 1 for a decision loss. No points if you’re finished. So, they’re trying the PFL route with points then… the PFL recently dropped its points system. The points will add up to the team’s overall total, with four teams making it to the semifinals after a regular season.

Round 3

• Dubai takes Derek Brunson, Los Angeles (sigh) Tony Ferguson, and London – zero surprise as they draft Josefine Knutsson. Darren Owen announces all three at once.

• Sao Paulo selects Carlos Petruzzella, New York takes Holly Holm for their third round picks. Miami takes Yoel Romero, the ageless wonder.

• Lyoto Machida pops on the broadcast. Then Jon Jones, in a clearly pre-recorded clip, “announces” Yoel Romero, who has already been announced. And gets his draft number wrong, though probably not Jones’ fault. Comedy of errors.

Round 4

• New York takes strawweight Melissa Amaya, Sao Paulo snags Camila Reynoso, and selects Miami takes Natasha Kuziutina.

• Now Thiago Alves and Conan Silveira join the broadcast. They head up Team Miami. Silveira talks up the structure of GFL, says this is the “golden age of MMA.”

• London takes Brett Johns, Los Angeles selects “California Kid” Urijah Faber, and Dubai closes out round four with Oleg Taktarov announcing Russian heavyweight Ali Isaev, a former PFL star. Oleg doing a much better job announcing picks than Darren Owen.

• Javier Mendez joins the broadcast, suggests fans will root for their favorite team, not just favorite fighter.

• Just going to throw this out there: Oleg was awesome in Predators, which along with Predator and Prey, is one of the watchable films in the Predator franchise.

Round 5

• Well, that’s all for actually “drafting” – the broadcast says they’ll announce the full roster for each team.

• Brendan Schaub compares the later draft rounds to the NFL draft and looking for utility players. He would know. That’s not a shot at Schaub, he’s actually correct on this one. Whether this draft was legit or not, it was the big stars mostly early, lesser knowns later

• Full Team Dubai: Anastasia Nikolakakos, Jessica Aguilar, Faine Mesquita, Randi Field, Alexa Conners, Arlene Blencowe, Farbod Iran Nezhad, Timur Valiev, Adilet Nurmatov, Khumoyun Tykhtamurddov, Damir Ismagulov, Tofiq Musaev, Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Tyron Woodley, Derek Brunson, Luke Rockhold, Omari Akhmedov, Ronny Markes, Ali Isaev, Todd Duffee.

• Grant Neal gets individually announced for LA. The full roster is then announced. Christian McCaffrey read out the Neal pick, GFL probably wanted to get it on air.

• Full Team Los Angeles: Cory McKenna, Jessica Penne, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Cynthia Calvillo, Aspen Ladd, Leslie Smith, Ray Borg, Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes, Tyler Diamond, Sage Northcutt, Tony Ferguson, Lorenz Larkin, Louis Glismann, Grant Neal, Uriah Hall, Da Woon Jung, Rashad Evans, Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski.

• Faber and Ferguson join the broadcast remotely. “El Cucuy” talks about earning points as a team. Faber says he wants to test himself still. Appears to be wearing a mop on his head, hasn’t had a haircut in years. He wants another fight with Renan Barao.

• Full Team London: Chiara Penco, Kelly Staddon, Josefine Knutsson, Karolina Owczarz, Julia Budd, Pannie Kianzad, Cameron Else, Josh Hill, Brett Johns, Mike Grundy, Benson Henderson, Tim Wilde, Danny Roberts, Norman Parke, Gegard Mousasi, Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz, Alexander Gustafsson, Ilir Latifi, Stuart Austin, Tanner Boser.

• Hill, Budd, and Boser make a strong Canadian contingent on the London team.

• Former WEC and UFC lightweight champ and multi-time Bellator title challenger Benson Henderson, also on the London team, pops on the broadcast, but has a few tech issues, hard to tell what he was saying through a lot of it. Gegard Mousasi is on next, questions whether Team London will train as a team or not. “We might get better results as a team.”

• Full Team Miami: Kayla Hracho, Natasha Kuziutina, Hannah Goldy, Paige VanZant, Cat Zingano, Mariya Agapova, Eric Shelton, Marlon Moraes, Andre Harrison, Charles Rosa, Anthony Pettis, Jeremy Stephens, Dilano Taylor, Gleison Tibau, Hector Lombard, Yoel Romero, Philipe Lins, Thiago Santos, Robelis Despaigne, Junior Dos Santos.

• Full Team Sao Paulo: Joice Mara, Pamela Mara, Camila Reynoso, Viviane Pereira, Alejandra lara, Paula Bittencourt, Raphael Assuncao, Renan Barao, Julio Arce, Maike Linhares, Patricky Pitbull, Lucas Martins, Alex Oliveira, Carlos Petruzzella, Alan Patrick, Douglas Lima, Antonio Carlos Junior, Shogun Rua, Bruno Cappelozza, Fabricio Werdum

• Paige VanZant and Shogun Rua join the broadcast. Shogun says he has a lot of wood left to burn. No knees though, he’s out of those. Shogun is a legend, but he’s got a LOT of miles on him. Don’t love this one. Would have preferred to see him as a manager.

• Full Team New York: Bi Nguyen, Marisa Messer-Belenchia, Melissa Amaya, Miao Ding, Holly Holm, Liana Jojua, Jimmie Rivera, Zviad Lazishvili, Lance Palmer, Kai Kamaka III, Sidney Outlaw, Kevin Lee, Neiman Gracie, Dillon Danis, Phillip Hawes, Chris Weidman, Devin Clark, Ovince St. Preux, Alan Belcher, Aleksei Oleinik.

• That’s all teams announced. Chris Wiedman appears, chirps at coach Ray Longo for not picking him first for New York (Kevin Lee was first, Weidman came second, but back-to-back picks). Dillon Danis is on Team New York. “Dillon Danis better listen to Captain Weidman, or he’s thrown off Team New York,” Weidman jokes, adds “I’m sure he’s going to be fine. He’s always been a gentleman to me.”

• Weidman mentions the history he has with fellow GFL stars Luke Rockhold, Uriah Hall, and Gegard Mousasi. “It’s older dudes that I have a lot of history with. I love to compete, and we make a lot of money. It’s not something I really felt like I could say no to.”

GFL Modified Weigh Classes

The GFL now announces its modified weight classes. These were talked about in press releases, but should have been covered at the start of the broadcast. In any case they are:

• Women’s atomweight (110)
• Women’s strawweight (125)
• Women’s bantamweight (140)
• Bantamweight (145)
• Featherweight (155)
• Lightweight (165)
• Welterweight (180)
• Middleweight (200)
• Light Heavyweight (225)
• Heavyweight (265)

The idea behind this is to reduce weight cutting, but there’s one big question – will it stop fighters from cutting just as much, and targeting a new weight class? How the weight classes are enforced will be key.

Bit more chatter, and that’s a wrap, just shy of 11PM ET, a three-hour broadcast. Some interesting teams, a lot of familiar (and older) names, and a few prospects, especially on the women’s side.

2025 GFL Draft Selections

GFL Draft 2025 - Eligible Female Fighters

GFL Draft 2025 - Eligible Male Fighters

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