The inaugural Global Fight League (GFL) draft is finally here!
On Friday (Jan. 24, 2025), GFL will host its first-ever draft that will see six teams pick a combined total of 120 fighters from a large pool of 420 athletes from 67 different countries. It has taken the new fight league a few years to put things in motion, but the time has finally come. The draft will take place on Friday night with the hopes of an official launch event this April.
While there is a plethora of different types of fighters who will be eligible to be drafted by one of the six teams participating in GFL, fight fans are especially excited due to some of the star names that have already signed on. This includes former UFC superstars like Tony Ferguson, Junior dos Santos, Yoel Romero, Alexander Gustafsson, Luke Rockhold, Wanderlei Silva, Tyron Woodley, Anthony Pettis, Mauricio Rua, Rashad Evans, Paige VanZant, and so many more.
The official GFL draft will take place from inside Van Wagner Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. It is expected to begin around 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT and can be see in the above video player. The six teams and the official manager/coach for each can be seen below:
- Dubai is managed by Cain Velasquez and coached by Javier Mendez
- London is managed by Luke Barnatt and coached by Carl Prince
- Los Angeles is managed by Wanderlei Silva and coached by Rafael Cordeiro
- Miami is managed by Thiago Alves and coached by Conan Silveira
- New York is coached by Ray Longo with a manager TBA (probably Chris Weidman)
- Sao Paulo is managed by Lyoto Machida and coached by Andre Pederneiras
Stick with Mania for ongoing coverage of the GFL draft and official team results.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
