Global Fight League is coming.
What Is GFL?
Global Fight League will begin with their first shows in April 2025, GFL founder Darren Owen revealed Wednesday on “The Ariel Helwani Show”. The launch group of GFL fighters will consist of former UFC champions such as, Luke Rockhold, Tyron Woodley, Fabricio Werdum, Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski.
GFL will be a team-based, seasonal format. The schedule currently has shows from April to August with 15 total events. Three playoff events will follow — two in September and the finals in November.
GFL is said to have a 300-fighter roster where 120 athletes will get drafted across six teams with 20 fighters per team (two per weight class). GFL will increase weight classes by five pounds for women (i.e.: 115-pound strawweight as 120 pounds) and 10-pound increases for men’s divisions up to welterweight and beyond, which is a 15-pound increase. GFL will have exclusive fighter contracts with a 50/50 revenue share included, as well as retirement incentives. Unlike in the UFC, there will be no win bonus. Fighters will receive their show purse with increases to it fight-by-fight. There will be no sponsors for the specific competitors, but, 50% of GFL sponsorship revenue will be shared.
In terms of the retirement plan, fighters’ total fight pay will see 8% percent contributed to retirement and 2% contributed to insurance funds. The GFL season format will work with a point system that leads to the playoffs. Fighters will receive four points for a finish victory, three points for a decision win, two points for a draw, one point for a decision loss, and zero for a finish loss. At the end of the regular season, points are totaled up and the top four teams make the playoffs. The GFL Draft will begin in January to pick teams.
Founder Darren Owen said the GFL will be meeting with potential broadcast partners in January. If terms can’t be reached, the organization is prepared to stream through the launch of its own app, which will debut with the events. Unknown if there will be “pay-per-view” type events.
You can see the entire list of roster members thus far, below.
- Tyron Woodley
- Fabricio Werdum
- Anthony Pettis
- Alexei Oleynik
- Junior dos Santos
- Hector Lombard
- Luke Rockhold
- Abubakar Nurmagomedov
- Wanderlei Silva
- Alexander Gustafsson
- Thiago Santos
- Andrei Arlovski
- Lucas Martins
- Gabriel Souza Galindo
- Kevin Lee
- Bi Nguyen
- Amirkhon Alikhuzhaev
- Charles Rosa
- Alan Belcher
- Ilir Latifi
- Jeremy Stephens
- Marlon Moraes
- Benson Henderson
- Guto Inocente
- Gegard Mousasi
- Karolina Owczarz
- Rousimar Palhares
- Francisco Trinaldo
- Killys Motta
- Greg Hardy
- Rafael Carvalho
- Lance Palmer
- Emiliano Sordi
- Bubba Jenkins
- Phil Hawes
- Robelis Despaigne
- Markus Perez
- Raimundo Batista
- Andre Soukhamthath
- Pedro Carvalho
- Cameron Else
- Jimmie Rivera
- Tanner Boser
- John Makdessi
- Philip Lins
- Sidney Outlaw
- Will Brooks
- Andre Harrison
- Yan Cabral
Global Fight League introduction video
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