Tag: Darren Owen

GFL Founder Explains Announcing Fighters Who Hadn’t Actually Signed: ‘If You Look At The History Of Drafts…’

There appears to be a new confusing conversation surrounding the GFL at each turn. When the Global Fight League first started announcing a huge list of athletes that would be entering into their draft which took place last Friday, there were a lot of questions. It quickly became apparent that all of those names wouldn’t […]

There appears to be a new confusing conversation surrounding the GFL at each turn. When the Global Fight League first started announcing a huge list of athletes that would be entering into their draft which took place last Friday, there were a lot of questions.

It quickly became apparent that all of those names wouldn’t actually be signed to the promotion, only the fighters that were picked up by one of the six teams but things haven’t been that simple. We now know the teams and which fighters were picked but there is still an on-going debate around the legitimacy of the draft following the news that some fighters didn’t agree to be taking part in it.

The most vocal of those names was Rashad Evans who claimed on social media that he didn’t consent to being in the GFL draft after already being picked as a member of the Los Angeles team. GFL founder Darren Owen looked to explain this during his recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show.

Owen said that out of the 120 fighters who were selected, only a “couple” of them hadn’t signed their contracts before the drafts took place which could be for multiple reasons. He specifically mentioned that in the case of Evans, they had already been told by his management that they had the all clear to put Evans in.

He stated that the GFL doesn’t want to sign fighters that don’t want to be there so every member of the roster had the option to part ways with the promotion after being drafted. With that in mind, Owen believes that this is just like any other draft where there are some final boxes to tick before the Global Fight League gets underway in April.

“We’ll see. Literally the day before the draft I’m like, ‘Ali, we’re good to put him in?’ And he’s like, ‘Yes brother, yes brother, we’re good to put him in.’ So we put him in and obviously Rashad came out afterwards and said like, ‘Hey I didn’t sign.’ I think if you look at the history of drafts, are any of those athletes signed before they get drafted to the team? No… There’s a lot of examples of thing that happen post-draft and this is just similar format to that.”

GFL Founder: We Can Make Fights ‘People Want To See’, Like Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis

The GFL is confident that they can deliver bouts that the fans are going to want to tune in for. With the promotion set to host their first event in April, the first few weeks/months for the promotion have not been plain sailing in terms of the general reception to what they’re trying to do. […]

The GFL is confident that they can deliver bouts that the fans are going to want to tune in for. With the promotion set to host their first event in April, the first few weeks/months for the promotion have not been plain sailing in terms of the general reception to what they’re trying to do.

Whilst the Global Fight League is confident that their team-based format will bring a new and exciting element to MMA which will draw upon the appeal of other mainstream sports, the response from a lot of fans has been sceptical to say the least. This certainly hasn’t been helped by the names that were announced for the draft with many of the top names being fighters that are well past their peaks.

The teams are now drawn up following the draft that took place last Friday, although there is still some concerns that have been raised as to which fighters actually agreed to fighting for the GFL before being drafted. The GFL may have a distinct format but founder Darren Owen has made it clear that this won’t stop them from putting on the fights that make the most sense.

This is something that Owen spoke about during his recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show where he spoke about the results and reaction from the draft. Owen named several fights that we could potentially see in the promotion in the near future now that we actually know, on paper at least, who will be competing for the promotion in 2025.

One of those fights that he mentioned was a bout between a UFC legend who holds the record for the most consecutive losses in the promotion having not won a fight in his last eight outings against another big name who also hasn’t won a fight since 2019, having previously been disqualified in a boxing match with Logan Paul.

“We can make the fights that people want to see, and we’re listening to everybody. Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis, that may be something that will come to fruition.”

The two other matchups that Owen named were rematches between established names with Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber 3 and Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman 2 being on the table. For reference, the last encounters between these men took place 10 and 11 years ago.