Tag: Global Fight League

Former UFC Champ Luke Rockhold Plans To Piece Up Chris Weidman in Upcoming GFL Showdown

Former UFC Champ Luke Rockhold Plans To Piece Up Chris Weidman in Upcoming GFL ShowdownLuke Rockhold plans on piecing up Chris Weidman when the two former UFC middleweight champions run it back under…

Former UFC Champ Luke Rockhold Plans To Piece Up Chris Weidman in Upcoming GFL Showdown

Luke Rockhold plans on piecing up Chris Weidman when the two former UFC middleweight champions run it back under the Global Fight League banner.

10 years after Rockhold TKO’d Weidman at UFC 194, the two are set to run it back sometime this year as part of the GFL, a team-based MMA organization that made waves with its first-ever live draft in January. A slew of former UFC stars were announced to be part of the promotion, including Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Yoel Romero, Urijah Faber, Paige VanZant, Junior dos Santos, and Tony Ferguson.

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Among them was Rockhold and Weidman, who declared himself for the GLF draft days after announcing his retirement from MMA during the UFC 311 weigh-in show.

Speaking about his long-awaited rematch with the ‘All American’ during an appearance on the JAXXON podcast with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Rockhold slammed Weidman’s last appearance inside the Octagon and offered a bit of prediction for the rematch.

“I just watched Chris versus Eric Anders’ last fight in the UFC, and Chris just doesn’t—he’s sloppier than ever. I mean, he still dropped Anders with a good shot, a good left. It was kind of surprising, but I don’t know… I’m going to piece him up.”

No official date has been announced for Rockhold vs. Weidman, or any GFL for that matter.

Will Weidman avenge his decade-old loss to Luke Rockhold?

Rockhold’s victory over Weidman in 2015 snapped the latter’s 11-fight win streak and relieved him of his role as the UFC middleweight champion. ‘All American’ was never quite the same following the loss, dropping four of his next six bouts before exiting the UFC altogether.

Rockhold ended up losing the middleweight title six months later to Michael Bisping at UFC 199. He bounced back with a win over David Branch but came up short in his next two outings and, like Weidman, exited the promotion.

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Alexander Gustafsson Gets Honest After UFC Exit, GFL Signing: ‘I Don’t Have Real Fire Anymore Or Hunger’

Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson is under no illusion about his current condition and deteriorating motivation to compete in mixed martial arts. After 15 years and 18 fights, Gustafsson brought his lengthy stint on MMA’s biggest stage to an end recently. But that doesn’t mean his journey as an active fighter is […]

Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson is under no illusion about his current condition and deteriorating motivation to compete in mixed martial arts.

After 15 years and 18 fights, Gustafsson brought his lengthy stint on MMA’s biggest stage to an end recently. But that doesn’t mean his journey as an active fighter is over.

The Swedish athlete was among the prominent veteran names who entered the inaugural Global Fight League (GFL) draft ahead of its launch season in 2025. The 38-year-old was picked by Team London, cementing his return to the cage this year.

During an interview with Sveacasino.se, Gustafsson — who is part of the UFC Hall of Fame owing to his first fight with Jon Jones — described his decision to leave the UFC and join the new organization, admitting he’s past his prime and no longer has the “hunger” required to mix it up with the elite of the sport.

“I see myself as an elite athlete but I feel it’s the time for the new generation,” Gustafsson said. “I feel like I’m not in my top game anymore. It was a while ago. In my opinion, the fighters who fight for the UFC need to be on their top level. It is the best level of fighting in the UFC. I’m not there anymore. … I’m still doing my best in training, and I have a couple of fights left in me. But I’m not at the UFC level anymore.  That’s how I feel. I’m real to myself. My teammates, my team is real to me. … I don’t have the real fire anymore or the hunger. It was a decision to make and I believe we made the right decision. And I feel good about it, too. I could have done another UFC fight, of course, but I feel a little bit of the pressure because you’re fighting for the best organisation in the world. You need to deliver. I’m not competing to accept a loss. I feel I’m not able to deliver like I did many years before.

“You need to think about yourself, and also I’m not 25, 28 anymore. I’m 38 years old,” Gustafsson continued. “I have a family. I’m not really worried about the damage you take in the fight. It’s more, the training camps you have. I’ve done many training camps in my career, and the training camp leading up to the fight. You need to deliver on the highest level. It’s a little bit of pressure because you need to recover between sessions. There are many factors involved in the whole thing. That‘s why we made the decision. We also have the GFL contract on the table, too. I have some other offers, too. I feel like I’m not going to do this for a very long time, so let’s make the best of it, and squeeze it out as much as possible. Then I’m done.”

Gustafsson has lost his last four fights, all by way of finishes. “The Mauler” was most recently knocked out by Nikita Krylov in just 67 seconds back at a 2022 UFC Fight Night in London.

‘Abuse Of Elders’ – Fans React As GFL Announces Frank Mir vs. Fabrício Werdum Matchup With Combined Age of 92

The Global Fight League’s rollout of matchups for its inaugural season isn’t exactly being met with positive reactions, especially the most recently confirmed bout between former UFC heavyweight champions Frank Mir and Fabrício Werdum. This year, the GFL is set to stage events for the first time, as the new organization targets success in mixed […]

The Global Fight League’s rollout of matchups for its inaugural season isn’t exactly being met with positive reactions, especially the most recently confirmed bout between former UFC heavyweight champions Frank Mir and Fabrício Werdum.

This year, the GFL is set to stage events for the first time, as the new organization targets success in mixed martial arts with a team-based format. 15 shows are apparently lined up until August, before a pair of playoff cards and one final event goes down at the end of 2025.

After confirming the six city teams and manager/head coach combinations for each, 120 athletes were chosen as part of the inaugural draft in January. A few weeks on — and before the release of any information on dates and locations for the upcoming events — the first matchups have emerged.

Following the announcement of Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold 2, the GFL caused a stir by revealing the return matchup for a well past his prime Maurício “Shogun” Rua, who will face the powerful Yoel Romero.

And more matchups driving further “Grandad Fight League” jokes among fans look to be on the way, starting with a heavyweight clash between 45-year-old Team Los Angeles representative Mir and 47-year-old Werdum, of Team São Paulo.

The Brazilian’s inclusion marks one of many concerns highlighted by the MMA community. Werdum and fellow GFL signing Wanderlei Silva both cited irreversible brain damage in their statements for the now-settled antitrust lawsuit against the UFC.

That was pointed out by some fans while reacting to his first fight since a 2023 decision loss to Junior dos Santos under the Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA banner. Mir, meanwhile, hasn’t fought in MMA since 2019 and lost both his professional boxing debut and Triad Combat bout 2021.

Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold 2, Yoel Romero vs. ‘Shogun’ Rua Announced By Global Fight League

A number of veterans have their first outings under the Global Fight League (GFL) banner confirmed, and the opening matchups include a rematch between former UFC middleweight champions Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold. After years of preparation, the GFL is set to stage events for the first time this coming April, as the promotion looks […]

A number of veterans have their first outings under the Global Fight League (GFL) banner confirmed, and the opening matchups include a rematch between former UFC middleweight champions Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold.

After years of preparation, the GFL is set to stage events for the first time this coming April, as the promotion looks to succeed in the fight game with a team-based format and season structure. 15 cards are planned up until August, after which two playoff events and one final will take place before the year’s end. 

Following the release of the six city teams, as well as a manager and head coach for each, 120 fighters were picked as part of the inaugural draft last month. And while little is known about dates and venues for the first events in April, the matchups have begun to roll out.

The official GFL social media account announced the first fight on Thursday. As expected after Luke Rockhold was traded from Team Dubai to Team Los Angeles, the Californian will run it back with Team New York’s Weidman, a fellow former UFC middleweight champion.

The pair first collided way back in 2015, with Rockhold emerging victorious from the Fight of the Night at UFC 194 after stopping the then-defending champ in round four.

Rockhold, who was also the last 185-pound titleholder in Strikeforce, has competed just once in MMA since 2019. After consecutive knockout losses to Yoel Romero and Jan B?achowicz, the 40-year-old memorably bowed out of the UFC in defeat against Paulo Costa. He’s since gone 1-1 away from MMA, losing to Mike Perry in BKFC and stopping Joe Schilling under the Karate Combat banner.

Weidman, meanwhile, initially appeared to announce his retirement from the sport last month but was quickly announced as the GFL’s latest big-name signing. The Baldwin native has had his hand raised once in three fights since returning from a broken leg. Weidman was most recently finished by Eryk Anders at UFC 309 last November.

The rematch between Rockhold and Weidman wasn’t the only confirmed first-round matchup, with the GFL also revealing a clash between Team Miami’s Yoel Romero and Maurício “Shogun” Rua of Team São Paulo.

The inclusion of Rua was among many that raised concerns in the MMA community. The 43-year-old looked a shadow of his former self when he was knocked out by Ihor Potieria in January 2023. Despite the retirement that followed that fight being widely supported, the former UFC and PRIDE standout now has Romero’s power to deal with.

While four years older than Rua, the game doesn’t appear to have left “Soldier of God” as of yet. Since a loss in his Bellator debut, the Cuban has won three out of four fights in the cage, most recently defeating fellow former UFC title challenger Thiago Santos under the PFL banner last February.

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.”

Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis Fight In the Works According to GFL MMA Founder

Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis Fight In the Works According to GFL MMA FounderWho had Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis on their 2025 MMA bingo card? Earlier this month, the Global Fight…

Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis Fight In the Works According to GFL MMA Founder

Who had Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis on their 2025 MMA bingo card?

Earlier this month, the Global Fight League hosted its first-ever live draft where hundreds of mixed martial artists were vying for the opportunity to secure one of 20 spots on six different ‘city’ teams: Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Sao Paulo.

Perhaps the biggest name taken in the draft was Ferguson, who recently ended his 13-year-run with the UFC amid an eight-fight winless streak. El Cucuy‘ was taken as the third overall pick for Team Los Angeles, but according to GFL founder Darren Owen, the promotion could ultimately choose to trade fighters, negating the entire purpose of the draft in order to facilitate certain fights.

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Like a showdown between Ferguson and Conor McGregor’s old BJJ coach, Dillon Danis.

“New York versus London, and then the Monday nighter: Los Angeles versus São Paulo. So, each of those—if there’s a matchup we want to make, like people are talking about Dillon Danis versus Tony Ferguson, for example—maybe we trade Tony to the London team so that fight can line up and people get what they want,” Owen said during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. “So, due to the fact that we kind of control and operate all of it ourselves, we can do creative things like that.”

Dillon Danis has not fought in an MMA bout in six years

Danis, who has not competed in an MMA bout since 2019, was drafted by Team New York in the GFL draft alongside names like former UFC champions Holly Holm and Chris Weidman. Also joining the team were ‘Motown Phenom’ Kevin Lee, Ovince Saint Preaux, and Sidney Outlaw.

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“[Urijah] Faber and [Renan] Barao, they want to run that back. They both want to do it. [Chris] Weidman was talking earlier today about Luke Rockhold, we think that fight is great,” Owen added. “The nice thing is they don’t have the ability to decline, so we can make the fights that people want to see and we’re listening to everybody.

“Tony Ferguson (versus) Dillion Danis that may be something that will come to fruition so, we’re down to make the fights.”

Danis’s last time competing, if you want to call it that, came in 2023 when he stepped inside the ring for a grudge match with Logan Paul. Danis delivered an undeniably lackluster performance before being disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct in the waning seconds of the six-round bout.

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