GFL Reportedly Planning May 24th Debut Event In California

The Global Fight League (GFL) is reportedly getting close to announcing its first-ever event.

The new MMA promotion—which signed over 120 fighters earlier this year in hopes of building up a roster that could compete with the PFL and even UFC—is planning on beginning its 2025 season with a doubleheader of events in late May, per a report from Ariel Helwani.

GFL has started putting the wheels in motion to host cards on May 24th and 25th (Saturday and Sunday) at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, USA. No events have been officially announced by the upstart company just yet.

If finalized, the events will see GFL eventually kick off a year they had hoped to start as early as next month. The brand previously promoted an April launch, mentioning the month in previous promotional material. However, as the weeks went by, it became less likely that the company could launch that early.

The shows are being planned to take place during a weekend when neither UFC nor PFL have an event scheduled currently, meaning the brand likely won’t have to compete with any other major players in the sport for eyeballs.

The Shrine Auditorium is a 6,300-capacity venue that mainly hosts concerts and award ceremonies. It also has a smaller Expo Hall within the building, which has been used for events in the past as well.

GFL drafted 120 fighters into teams of 20 in January, beginning what is an attempt to revive a team-based approach to MMA — similar to the IFL, which had a brief run in the mid 2000s. Fighters representing teams from around the world will face off against each other, with the winning athletes earning points for their respective squads.

Promotional material shared by the GFL earlier this year showed the plan of going Team vs. Team events in the regular season before a four-team playoffs begins later in the year.

GFL has announced matchups over the past few months in hopes of hyping up their debut events, although none of the pairings have been given dates and locations thus far. Some of the expected clashes for the May doubleheader, per Helwani, include: Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis, Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao, Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis, and Douglas Lima vs. Uriah Hall.