Urijah Faber had been scheduled for a trilogy fight with former UFC champ and old rival Renan Barāo (not pictures) at the GFL launch, but that bout is now in jeopardy. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
Since everything feels like gambling these days, it’s been a fun exercise in the early going of 2025 to ponder the odds that the GFL will ever hold an event.
Back in January, you might have been able to get even money on the hypothetical line that it would put on at least one. As a team-oriented concept, the upstart promotion even held a GFL draft later that month, with Team Dubai using the coveted first pick to scoop up 43-year-old Tyron Woodley.
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But by April, just a month before the first fights were slated to take place in Los Angeles? That imaginary line feels closer to +1200 – and that’s being generous to the GFL. It turns out those three letters stand for Good F***ing Luck, bruv.
The first big blow came Wednesday, when Uncrowned learned that the GFL — which is comprised of a who’s who of yesterday’s big names — had canceled its first slate of fights, a weekend-doubleheader that had been penciled in for May 24-25 at the Shrine Auditorium.
In the cartoons, somebody ties the barrel of the shotgun into a knot, causing it to backfire. In real life, as GFL founder Darren Owen informed Uncrowned’s Ariel Helwani, “my main investor didn’t fulfill his April obligation which has caused a problem.”
Guido, grab the pipe. We have a problem and sounds like someone needs a talkin’ to.
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A lot of fighters were tied to that inaugural event. Some 62 of them, all told, many looking to make their first fight-related payday in several years. A few weeks ago, Dillon Danis had two fights booked — one against KSI in the boxing ring, and one against Tony Ferguson at the inaugural GFL event. Today he has zero. At this rate, we may never see Danis fight again, which is what eternal optimists might call a “silver lining.”
The truth is the red flags of this MMA start-up have and continue to wave. We’ve seen the team concept before with the IFL back in the mid-to-late aughts, and there’s a reason the word “defunct” is used when referencing that ill-fated league. The “ick” factor? The GFL has a healthy dose of that. The average age of the announced GFL roster is somewhere in the vicinity of 40, give or take. No one is too sure about Yoel Romero, but, on whole, the cauliflower on the ears are long past their expiration dates.
Then there’s the up-front money to pull off such an ambitious endeavor. The names the GFL is rostering don’t come cheap, which has fueled the rampant skepticism. Even if you roll out past-their-prime relics for some twilight bruising, will they actually get paid?
We’ve seen so many well-intentioned combat promotions come and go over the years, from Affliction to Nick Diaz’s War MMA to Metamoris, which belonged more to Stanley Kubrick’s mind than to the fight game. Triller is alleged to still owe people money for an ill-advised blowout in 2021, a gratuitous affair that remains one of the most over-the-top events the combat sports world has witnessed.
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When new money comes into the fight game, the fringes have a way of closing in. Pockets are rarely deep enough to accommodate all the hands rifling through them. Sustaining anything in this space is next to impossible without a solid plan and a very real financial commitment. And though it attracts blowhards like no other sport, it also spits them out by the dozen. We’ve seen it. And we’ll keep seeing it.
In the case of GFL, let’s face it, while it’s only fair to give all enterprises the benefit of the doubt, this has never quite felt like an actual thing. At least not in the sense that … you know, it could realistically get off the ground and succeed.
The GFL came out of the blue, and strayed immediately into the red. Nothing has added up. The names involved. The murk over the broadcasting. The gimmick of “teams.” The guilt of recycling retired fighters who’ve already taken their lumps. The lofty idea of filling the NFL void. The involvement of Brendan Schaub.
And now a cancellation just a month prior to the launch, which suggests this thing never really had a pulse to begin with.
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In his full statement to Uncrowned, Owen used some language that wasn’t exactly comforting, at least not to those who think GFL stands for the GoFund League.
“Working on a solution. My main investor didn’t fulfill his April obligation which has caused a problem. I’ll keep you posted but I believe we will be able to work through it. I think we can make it happen in June.
“Additionally, I don’t foresee the event taking place in California, but we absolutely will keep pushing forward.
“I think we’re going to have to push the dates to June 15/16. I’ll confirm ASAP. It’s been a frustrating week, but I think there’s a solution in place.”
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For those counting at home, that’s three “I thinks” and one “I believe” in a short statement about the “why.” Faith is not a viable business plan, not when the posters are being printed up. Prayers are what UFC CEO Dana White hears from other players at the blackjack table as he’s playing $50K a hand.
If the GFL is able to pull it together in London (as has been teased) or elsewhere, and give its fighters the promised 50/50 revenue split, and make a lot of older fighters a little extra money in the gloaming, maybe it can live up to billing for at least one wild weekend.
But I wouldn’t bet on it. The odds of a GFL event ever taking place feel longer than ever.
