All this while people have been talking about PFL (not GFL) and the emergence of BKFC (bare-knuckle fighting championship) and GFL has just been riding under the radar quietly acquiring contracts for a league that is as of now, meant to be getting starting in some time in April of next year.
The are making some very lofty promises to the fighters on the roster, which is something I am happy to hear about, but I believe there is going to be some major issues with the financial viability of the organization if what is being rumored ends up being true. According to Tyron Woodley in a recent interview, they are "offering boxing money for MMA." That sounds great and for people like me that have been lamenting the poor pay in UFC and how many of the old stars end up broke and with no help with their chronic pain, this is a very big problem as far as MMA and the main culprit, UFC is concerned. This doesn't mean that someone can move in, promise to pay a lot more, and then still remain viable as a business is concerned though.
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As a side note I don't know if Tyron Woodley is the person you want to have doing your talking for you and on this particular podcast I would imagine that he likely wasn't meant to be their spokesperson, but he did talk about it. In case you forgot Tyron, an ex UFC champion, went into a slump towards the end of his time in UFC normally eliciting boos from the crowds because he appeared to be simply doing whatever in order to get by and get paid. He did very little work in the octagon and his matches were boring. People would cheer when he lost and I think most people not related to him applauded from their living rooms when he got released. The of course there was the whole getting KO'd by Jake Paul thing that is less than wonderful on one's record.
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I don't know much about GFL or how they came to be but unless they are like LIV golf and are financed by Royals with trillions in oil money, I don't see them sticking around for long. The look of their proposed roster doesn't exactly make eyes spin and it includes 8 ex UFC champions that are probably more fit for the bingo halls than they are for a cage where fighting is involved.
The names include but are not limited to
- Fabricio Werdum
- Anthony Pettis
- Benson Henderson
- Junior Dos Santos (seriously?)
- Frank Mir (huh?)
- Hector Lombard (nearly 50)
- Alexander Gustafsson
Now I will admit that some of those names make me have nostalgic "feels" but there is a very real reason why they were all released by UFC and most of them were declined by Bellator and ONE Championship. They don't really have it in them anymore. In particular I felt like Gustafsson got a raw deal because he was on top of the world and after 2 losses the UFC basically turned their backs on him. It didn't help that he was a damned fool with his money when he was in prime time shape and spent 2-3 times what he was getting paid on investments such as lavish houses and then when the money dried up (as it tends to) he had to scale down a lot. These days you don't even hear what the guy is up to. I would imagine who does shows for whoever will pay him the most but it would be on a regional circuit.
These names were but shouldn't be surprising to me. Frank Mir and Junior Dos Santos in particular are two guys that stuck around in UFC FAR LONGER than they should have and allowed themselves to be embarrassed time and time again by younger up-and-coming talent and the UFC was using them and their legacy as a stepping stone to move in new talent. This didn't work so well for the heavyweight division in UFC though because that is basically the "who cares" weight class in UFC at the moment.
To me, promising a bunch of guys that definitely need money because they spent unwisely during their UFC tenure sounds great for the fighters pockets, but will a bunch of has been's in their 40's (some closing in on 50), will this be something exciting for the fans at all? Because at the end of the day that is who is paying to keep the lights on and also keep the money flowing to these extravagant purses that at least for now is being promised to these fighters.
I would absolutely LOVE if someone were to become a real competitor to UFC but this is not the way. We have seen the old fighters come back out of retirement only to disappoint us time and time again. I can understand Woodley's enthusiasm but I don't understand how the people managing this upstart can possibly think that it is going to work. I give it a year.
Less than a year and I think the plug will be pulled within 6 months once investors see no return. If you are going to compete against the UFC and succeed you have to do thigs properly and this is not it.
I think the only way to win against UFC is to not play against them. They are too big and will crush anyone that gets in their way. Of course if the Saudis get involved that could change everything but perhaps you aren't aware of this but UFC is kind of pre-empting this possibility by having many of their events in Riyadh. I think UFC has fantastic management and realize that they need to get ahead of this potential sort of thing before it is even suggested by anyone with deep pockets.