Tonight was supposed to mark the inaugural event for Global Fight League (GFL), but after the controversial fight promotion fudged their funding fight fans will now miss a ton of fun action on a limited combat weekend.
It wasn’t that long ago that GFL was expected to light the combat world ablaze. The promotion seemed to have enough money behind it and prospective broadcast partners in place to actual make a solid run at becoming the next big mixed martial arts (MMA) outlet. With Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) running so much of the show fight fans seemed intrigued to see what GFL can do.
Luckily, the fighters themselves flocked to GFL in hopes of making big paydays on the tail end of their careers. Former UFC champions and superstars like Chris Weidman, Urijah Faber, Tony Ferguson, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Tyron Woodley, Alexander Gustafsson, Holly Holm, Anthony Pettis, Paige VanZant, and Luke Rockhold were brought in by the promotion for a piece of the pie (check out the official GFL rosters HERE). Most had fights booked with GFL prior to the new fight organization taking a “temporary” nose dive.
With so much talent on the GFL roster, founder Darren Owen needed the proper funding to keep the show going. GFL’s first event was expected to take place tonight (Sat., May 24, 2025) from inside Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Calif., and feature a main event trilogy bout between the aforementioned Faber and former UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao. The second event was scheduled for tomorrow night (Sun., May 25, 2025) and was lining up a grudge match between Ferguson and trash-talking grappler Dillon Danis.
Unfortunately, everything has been put on ice after funding fell through, broadcast rights failed to be ironed out, and fighters were shown a “dubious” bank account to get them to sign. GFL is still hoping to get things back on track later this year, but it’s certainly not happening this Memorial Day weekend.
What could have been!