GFL pulls plug on debut events scheduled for May

The Global Fight League has cancelled its first two events planned for May 24 and May 25 in Los Angeles with questions now swirling around whether the promotion will ever get off the ground.

California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster confirmed both events scheduled to take place at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles have been cancelled. Additional sources close to fighters announced to compete on the card also confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Wednesday following an initial report by Yahoo! Sports.

While there are still talks ongoing about potentially rescheduling the events at a much later date in 2025, it’s unknown if the fighters signed to GFL are going to stick around after this latest delay to launch the promotion.

When GFL was first announced, there were early talks about launching in April and then eventually plans shifted to May in Los Angeles. Now, with these events cancelled, it remains to be seen if the GFL ends before it ever begins.

Headed up by former PFL executive Darren Owen, the upstart promotion was quick to sign a slew of prominent names to the roster after announcing plans to launch the organization in 2025.

The first two cards alone featured names like Tony Ferguson, Dillon Danis, Chad Mendes, Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Holly Holm, Urijah Faber, Renan Barao, Alexander Gustafsson, Paige VanZant and Cat Zingano.

There were plenty more fighters signed to the GFL including ex-UFC champion Chris Weidman, who actually planned to retire before receiving an offer to sign with the promotion in hopes he could finally earn a rematch against Luke Rockhold — another fighter signed to the roster.

Many of the fighters signed to GFL spoke about incredibly generous financial terms offered with contracts to sign there, which immediately raised doubts about the long-term viability of the organization.

Now the GFL’s entire future appears uncertain with the first two cards cancelled and no definitive plans for what comes next.