History
The Global Fight League (GFL), originally announced as the World Fight League (WFL), will launch in 2025. GFL was founded by Darren Owen, who serves as the league's acting commissioner, and Arun Parimi, who serves as the league's chief operating officer, with the backing of Scott Parker, who serves as the chief marketing officer, and Jeffrey Pollack, who is the GFL's senior advisor.
The GFL will put on fights across ten weight-divisions, which differ from MMA's traditional weight classes: women's atomweight (110 lbs), women's strawweight (120 lbs), women's flyweight (130 lbs), women's bantamweight (140 lbs), men's bantamweight (145 lbs), featherweight (155 lbs), lightweight (165 lbs), welterweight (180 lbs), middleweight (200 lbs), light heavyweight (225 lbs), and heavyweight (265 lbs). [10] The GFL has a 300-fighter roster where 120 athletes are assigned to six teams, composed of 20 fighters with two fighters representing each of the 10 weight classes. [10] A scoring system is set for the GFL's bouts where fighters earn four points for a finish, three for a decision win, two for a draw, one for a decision loss and zero for a defeat via finish. The points contribute to each team's total score. [9]
On December 11, 2024, it was announced that GFL had signed Tyron Woodley, Fabrício Werdum, Anthony Pettis, Junior dos Santos, Luke Rockhold, Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski, Renan Barão, and Benson Henderson – all former Ultimate Fighting Championship title holders. Other GFL signees Marlon Moraes, Wanderlei Silva, Gegard Mousasi, Rafael Carvalho, Lance Palmer, and Will Brooks were champions in other major organizations such as the Pride Fighting Championships, Bellator MMA, and the World Series of Fighting. [11]
On February 4, 2025, the GFL released their schedule for their inaugural season with events that will take place at the following locations and months: [12]
One city will face another at an event and fighters are expected to compete three times in six months. [12] Four of the six teams will qualify for the playoffs and fans will vote for the bout order. [12]
On March 20, 2025, journalist Ariel Helwani reported that the GFL's inaugural events were being delayed from April to May, reportedly with them being scheduled to be held on May 24 and May 25 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. [13] However, on April 9, it was announced that the inaugural events were both cancelled, putting the future of the promotion in jeopardy. [14]
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