The Global Fight League (GFL) has officially confirmed its first-ever fight cards.
Months removed from their debut “draft,” which unveiled the promotion’s full roster and detailed how their unique team-based format will play out, GFL has finalized the lineups for a doubleheader next month.
A total of 30 fights will go down as part of the May 24th and 25th weekend at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, USA, the promotion announced Monday. The two evenings of action are full of names from MMA’s past, as numerous former UFC, Bellator and PFL stars will be in action.
The announcement finally confirms GFL’s first events, which were initially teased to potentially go down in April. News of a doubleheader in Los Angeles was initially reported a little over a week ago, although the recent announcement marks their first official confirmation of the card and lineups.
The headlining bout on the promotion’s Saturday card sees former WEC Champion and two-time UFC title challenger Urijah Faber meet fellow decorated bantamweight Renan Barao in a trilogy fight. The two notably met twice during the 2010s, with Barao prevailing in both instances.
The second night is topped off by a fight that features former interim UFC Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson against cocky anti-hero fighter Dillon Danis. The Saturday headliner is one of the bigger oddities during the weekend, as it sees a fighter in a long-standing slump meet a talent who is best known for his out-of-the-cage antics rather than his brief amount of time wearing four-ounce gloves.
41-year-old Ferguson enters with over 30 pro fights but even more importantly, an incredibly long eight-fight losing streak which stretches back more than five years. The upcoming fight is expected to be his first following a 24-fight run in the UFC, which came to an end following a first-round submission loss against Michael Chiesa last August.
Danis, who has more than 5 million Instagram followers due to his outspoken personality, will be returning for just his third MMA bout, coming back to the sport for the first time since 2019. The former Bellator prospect was last seen in 2023, when he was disqualified from an exhibition boxing match against Logan Paul.
There is no shortage of names on the card who stick out as fighters who had a moment in the sport’s mainstream at some point. Former champs like Anthony Pettis, Holly Holm, Douglas Lima and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane will be fighting.
Others include long-time women’s division star Paige VanZant, past Jon Jones rival Alexander Gustafsson, “Dana White’s Lookin’ For A Fight” star Sage Northcutt, long-time middleweight contender Derek Brunson, and 19-fight UFC vet Uriah Hall.
All fighters on the upcoming lineups will represent one of six teams, which they were drafted to earlier this year during a web broadcast by the promotion. A fighter earns four points for their team if they score a finish win and three if they earn a decision win. A draw earns a team two points, and a decision loss still brings back one point for the losing team.
The team matchups for the first-ever card go as follows: Dubai vs. Miami, London vs. New York, and Sao Paulo vs. Los Angeles. An exception was made for a singular New York vs. Los Angeles fight so that Danis vs. Ferguson could be booked.
The plan is for four of the six teams to move into a playoff bracket after a regular season. We currently don’t know what GFL’s long-term schedule looks like, so it’s unclear when the transition into a playoffs should be expected.
Broadcast details haven’t been announced yet, and tickets are expected to go on sale sometime this month.
Here’s a look at the full lineups, which are a little under two months away:
GFL 1 – 5/24/25
Bout 15: Urijah Faber (35-11) vs. Renan Barao (34-10) (Bantamweight)
Bout 14: Anthony Pettis (25-14) vs. Benson Henderson (30-12) (Lightweight)
Bout 13: Holly Holm (15-7) vs. Julia Budd (17-6) (Bantamweight)
Bout 12: Chad Mendes (18-5) vs. Maike Linhares (19-3) (Featherweight)
Bout 11: Derek Brunson (24-9) vs. Omari Akhmedov (24-8-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 10: Sage Northcutt (12-3) vs. Lucas Martins (22-7) (Lightweight)
Bout 9: Marlon Moraes (23-13-1) vs. Ray Borg (16-5) (Bantamweight)
Bout 8: Aspen Ladd (12-5) vs. Alejandra Lara (11-8) (Bantamweight)
Bout 7: Robelis Despaigne (5-2) vs. Todd Duffee (9-4) (Heavyweight)
Bout 6: Cat Zingano (14-5) vs. Alexa Conners (8-5) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Neiman Gracie (13-6) vs. Danny Roberts (18-8) (Welterweight)
Bout 4: Jessica Penne (14-8) vs. Joice Mara (12-6) (Atomweight)
Bout 3: Charles Rosa (18-8) vs. Khumoyun Tukhtamuradov (12-5) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Marisa Messer-Belenchia (5-2) vs. Kelly Staddon (3-1) (Atomweight)
Bout 1: Gleison Tibau (38-19) vs. Alex Oliveira (25-16-1) (Welterweight)
GFL 2 – 5/25/25
Bout 15: Tony Ferguson (25-11) vs. Dillon Danis (2-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 14: Ovince St. Preux (27-18) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (18-8) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 13: Uriah Hall (17-11) vs. Douglas Lima (33-12) (Middleweight)
Bout 12: Paige VanZant (8-5) vs. Randi Field (5-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 11: Louis Glismann (12-3) vs. Abubakar Nurmagomedov (17-4-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 10: Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (13-3) vs. Viviane Pereira (16-4) (Strawweight)
Bout 9: Alan Belcher (18-8) vs. Stuart Austin (18-8) (Heavyweight)
Bout 8: Thiago Santos (22-13) vs. Devin Clark (14-9) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 7: Lorenz Larkin (27-8) vs. Carlos Petruzzella (13-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 6: Jimmie Rivera (23-5) vs. Cameron Else (11-6) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Natasha Kuziutina (7-1) vs. Jessica Aguilar (20-10) (Strawweight)
Bout 4: Phil Hawes (12-6) vs. Grant Neal (9-2) (Middleweight)
Bout 3: Kai Kamaka III (14-6-1) vs. Mike Grundy (12-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Jung Da-woon (15-6-1) vs. Ronny Markes (25-10) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 1: Ding Miao (18-8) vs. Josefine Knutsson (8-1) (Strawweight)
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