Global Fight League reveals massive list of signings, including 8 ex-UFC champs, for new team-based MMA organization

The Global Fight League (GFL) is ready to take the MMA world by storm.

GFL founder Darren Owen revealed Wednesday on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show" that the promotion's first events will occur in April 2025. The news comes after three years of preparation and a name change from World Fight League. Former UFC champions Luke Rockhold, Tyron Woodley, Fabricio Werdum, Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Frank Mir, Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski are expected to be among the launch group of GFL athletes.

A team-based format and seasonal setting will be implemented in GFL, and the schedule is already set from April to August with 15 total events. Three playoff events will follow — two in September and the finals in November.

"We're able to create unique storylines that have never existed in the sport," Owen said. "That's one thing we keep hearing. Everyone loves the sport of MMA but the storylines are often not there. What this brings is the talking points, the, 'OK, are these two fighters going to be teammates or are they going to be potentially fighting?' And different strategies that come in, different betting elements that come in.

"The No. 1 driver in sports fandom proven is cheering for your favorite team. Favorite teams have never really existed in the sport of MMA. So we're just creating what already exists and you see it across all the major professional leagues in the world, and this is just the implementation of that team-based league model for the third most popular sport in the world.

"The fact that we have these popular athletes who [fans] already are emotionally invested in or know their names or their story and their background, I think that's going to be the difference-maker with us. We're going to have wild matchups that people wouldn't expect to see. But also, we're going to have the best global top prospects available and having them competing as well, so you're going to have this contrast of established veterans, household MMA names that people recognize, but then we're also going to showcase the next generation of up-and-coming talent from all around the world."

GFL is expected to carry a 300-fighter roster where 120 athletes will get drafted across six teams, with 20 fighters per team across 10 weight classes (two fighters per weight class). In an effort to curb extreme weight-cutting, GFL weight classes will differ from traditional weight classes: Women's strawweight (120 pounds), women's flyweight (130), women's bantamweight (140), men's bantamweight (145), featherweight (155), lightweight (165), welterweight (180), middleweight (200), light heavyweight (225) and heavyweight (265).

The first batch of fighter names competing in the GFL can be seen below.

• Tyron Woodley

• Fabricio Werdum

• Anthony Pettis

• Benson Henderson

• Junior dos Santos

• Luke Rockhold

• Gegard Mousasi

• Frank Mir

• Wanderlei Silva

• Andrei Arlovski

• Alexander Gustafsson

• Thiago Santos

• Kevin Lee

• Ilir Latifi

• Jeremy Stephens

• Marlon Moraes

• Alexei Oleynik

• Hector Lombard

• Abubakar Nurmagomedov

• Robelis Despaigne

• Lucas Martins

• Gabriel Souza Galindo

• Bi Nguyen

• Amirkhon Alikhuzhaev

• Charles Rosa

• Alan Belcher

• Guto Inocente

• Karolina Owczarz

• Rousimar Palhares

• Francisco Trinaldo

• Killys Motta

• Greg Hardy

• Rafael Carvalho

• Lance Palmer

• Emiliano Sordi

• Bubba Jenkins

• Phil Hawes

• 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

GFL fighter contracts will be exclusive and have 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 on a fight-by-fight basis. There will be no sponsorship openings for individual competitors, however 50% of GFL's league sponsorship revenue will be shared among the athletes.

Regarding the retirement elements, fighters' total fight pay will see 8% percent contributed to retirement and 2% contributed to insurance funds.

"Whatever revenue we receive, whether it's media rights deals, sponsorships, ticket sales, all of that, 50% goes into the fighter revenue pool from that specific event and then those fighters that are on that event are the ones who share in that revenue percentage," Owen said. "Obviously, not every fighter is equal. So every negotiation is their base guaranteed pay. We also have a win increase. We don't do the show-win, half your money here, half your money there. It's, 'Hey, this is what you're getting, worst-case scenario, to show up and do your job. If you're successful, the next time you show up, your pay increases.'

"Athletes get paid either or — whatever is greater — their guaranteed amount or their revenue share percentage. So someone might have a $50,000 guaranteed purse and they earn 1% revenue share, but if there's $10 million in that revenue pool for that event, then they're going to receive $100,000 instead of what they were thinking was $50,000."

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.

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. Whether or not there will be pay-per-view events remains to be determined.