URIJAH FABER of the UFC renown temple was one of those fighters who should participate in the inaugural events of the GFL before their sudden cancellation earlier this month. (Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
Global Fight League fails to honor his commitments to the combatants following Recent cancellations of the eventAccording to the long -standing director of MMA, Lloyd Pierson.
In a press release published Thursday at Ariel Helwani de Unclosée, Pierson, who represents several fighters signed with the GFL, accused the organization of not having been up to the promises made to the combatants, which caused them financial damage.
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“When it was created, GFL came to the MMA stage by looking for attention by promising large sums of money,” wrote Pierson. “Many fighters have relied on these promises and, when GFL did not succeed, was injured financially and forced to participate in extended combat camps for fights that will no longer occur.”
GFL recently announced the Cancellation of planned inaugural events Planned for Los Angeles this month, insisting that events could take place in June, while citing funding problems. It was one of the disturbing changes, according to Pierson, who, as executive vice-president and combat sports chief for Vaynersports, represents several GFL fighters, including Urijah Faber, Chris Weidman, Tony Ferguson and others.
“GFL and their CEO Darren Owen have started to recruit high -level fighters in the last months of 2024, offering fighters of large financial handbags and guaranteeing the ability to fight three times during the 2025 calendar year,” Pierson wrote in his declaration in Non Couronne. “Based on these promises, many fighters have left previous promotions and have made other difficult decisions for themselves and their families to continue the GFL opportunity.”
According to Pierson, Owen tried to respond to the concerns about the financial stability of the GFL by “circulating copies and photos of the GFL bank account, showing that they had more than $ 20 million in funding”.
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A non-couronne contacted the founder of the GFL, Owen, who declared in an SMS that he had requested proof of funds from a main investor.
“To do this, he transferred $ 20 million to our bank account to prove that he had the funds,” wrote Owen. “He transferred the fund funds on the same day. We had a monthly fundraising calendar generally in the fork of $ 200,000 per month that he had financed without problem before April. Whether it is the market accident or to have cold feet, he did not fulfill his April obligation and subsequently interrupted our progress.”
According to Pierson, the funding misfortunes made that certain fighters did not receive monthly allowances which were guaranteed to them contractually. This did not warn, Pierson, said Pierson, and was accompanied by other sudden changes in GFL insurance to combatants.
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“Now, with an apparent lack of funding for the GFL, Darren asks combatants to compete for free,” wrote Pierson. “He disseminated a document showing an income sharing model for combatants – a full gap compared to their contracted amounts. According to some combatants, the GFL plans to make nearly $ 4 million in this event in the low -end. Anyone who was involved in combat promotion knows that this is clearly unrealistic and not truthful.
The offer on the one hand of income instead of contractual remuneration has also been mentioned by the ALFC veteran, Alan Belcher, who on his Instagram page This week called GFL “for lack of a better word, a scam”.
According to Belcher, after the initial cancellation of the GFL event, Owen offered him “part of income and stuff if I was fighting for a guaranteed handbag”.
Owen told without crown a income sharing model was a possibility that had been discussed informally, but no official offer of this type was made.
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“In an effort to organize an event as soon as possible, potentially with a lower investment amount, we have explored different approaches to achieve this,” wrote Owen in a text message. “We discussed the possibility that the combatants compete for income or profits, but we have made no decision on this subject and we have made no official offer to anyone.”
Owen said GFL was “active negotiation with a number of investors” and plans to carry out events “when we have obtained the necessary funds”.
As for the assertions that the combatants' allowances were cut, Owen said that those who were eligible for these payments had received them until April.
“We have fighters who received advances in handbag,” wrote Owen. “I believe that everything that was eligible according to their deliverables was actually paid for April. For the moment, we have not raped any of these agreements.”
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In his declaration, Pierson said that the fighters were fighting with sudden changes not only in the terms of their agreements with GFL, but also the repeated changes surrounding the dates of events for the inaugural emissions of GFL.
“In January, GFL led an extremely disorganized public project of public project, where the number of teams was unexpectedly reduced from eight to six.
“After this change, Owen confirmed that there would be absolutely no more modifications on this date. Again, reassuring the fighting fighters to come and to continue with the painful camps. Recently, without previous warning, Owen has again changed the dates of the event until May 24 to 25. During this period, some fighters received agreements.
According to Owen, the total money between counterfeit agreements and Addendums “is equivalent to the amount of the promotional agreement” for all combatants.
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“Our goal is to honor all the agreements we have in place,” wrote Owen. “I do not think we have violated the agreements for the moment. We have had an athlete to date which has requested and received his release. We will resume operations as soon as possible.”
So far, there has been no official confirmation of a date and a place for the next GFL events. Pierson called him “extremely alarming” that any fighter would always consider participating in GFL fights under these conditions.
“Two omnipresent problems in the MMA community were a bad representation and a lack of solidarity among the combatants,” wrote Pierson. “We, as leaders in the representation of the combatants, must continue to fight for our customers, in particular by educating them against the acceptance of blatant transactions such as those presented by the GFL. In addition, the MMA community must be held together and recognize that thanks to solidarity, we can protect all fighters against fraudulent value and predatory behaviors by combat promoters.
“The GFL must obtain legitimate funding if they wish to operate in MMA space. The combatants should be united to refuse to accept such treatment from emerging promotions.”
