Paige VanZant and Tony Ferguson were two of the many fighters who found out their teams during the eagerly-anticipated GFL draft.
The pair were joined by a plethora of already announced legends as well as a few surprise additions.
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Yesterday night, the GFL draft took place, with six teams, each representing a major city, selecting from a pool of approximately 500 fighters, featuring icons like Tyron Woodley as well as a plethora of rising stars.
In total, 120 mixed martial artists were picked across ten weight classes (heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight, women’s bantamweight, women’s strawweight, and women’s atomweight). Rather than the traditional weight limits, GFL will mix things up in their bid to combat the dangers of weight cutting.
The six teams participating in the competition are coached by famous MMA faces:
Dubai: Manager Cain Velasquez and coach Javier Mendez
London: Manager Luke Barnatt and coach Carl Prince
Los Angeles: Manager Wanderlei Silva and coach Rafael Cordeiro
Miami: Manager Thiago Alves and coach Conan Silveira
New York: Manager TBA and coach Ray Longo
Sao Paulo Manager Lyoto Machida and coach Andre Pederneiras
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These combat sports aficionados then drafted the likes of Tony Ferguson, Frank Mir and Paige VanZant, as well as late entries, including Chris Weidman.
A concrete date for the promotion’s first card is yet to be announced. However, the organizers claim they will launch in April, with regular season, semi-finals, and finals events to come throughout 2025.
Full GFL draft featuring Tony Ferguson and Paige VanZant
Round 1
- Pick 1 (Team Dubai): Tyron Woodley
- Pick 2 (Team Los Angeles): Sage Northcutt
- Pick 3 (Team London): Gegard Mousasi
- Pick 4 (Miami): Junior Dos Santos
- Pick 5 (Sao Paulo): Fabricio Werdum
- Pick 6 (New York): Kevin Lee
Round 2
- Pick 7 (New York): Chris Weidman
- Pick 8 (Sao Paulo): Douglas Lima
- Pick 9 (Miami): Anthony Pettis
- Pick 10 (London): Alexander Gustafsson
- Pick 11 (Los Angeles): Aspen Ladd
- Pick 12 (Dubai): Abubakar Nurmagomedov
Round 3
- Pick 13 (Dubai): Derek Brunson
- Pick 14 (Los Angeles): Tony Ferguson
- Pick 15 (London): Josefine Knutsson
- Pick 16 (Miami): Yoel Romero
- Pick 17 (Sao Paulo): Carlos Petruzzella
- Pick 18 (New York): Holly Holm
Round 4
- Pick 19 (New York): Melissa Amay
- Pick 20 (Sao Paulo): Camilia Reynoso
- Pick 21 (Miami): Natasha Kuizutina
- Pick 22 (London): Brett Johns
- Pick 23 (Los Angeles): Urijah Faber
- Pick 24 (Dubai): Ali Isaev
Full team reveal (following Round 5):
Team Dubai
- Anastasia Nikolakakos (atomweight)
- Jessica Aguilar (atomweight)
- Faine Mesquita (strawweight)
- Randi Field (strawweight)
- Alexa Conners (bantamweight)
- Arlene Blencowe (bantamweight)
- Farbod Iran Nezhad (bantamweight)
- Timur Valiev (bantamweight)
- Adilet Nurmatov (featherweight)
- Khumoyun Tukhtamurodov (featherweight)
- Damir Ismagulov (lightweight)
- Tofiq Musayev (lightweight)
- Abubakar Nurmagomedov (welterweight)
- Tyron Woodley (welterweight)
- Derek Brunson (middleweight)
- Luke Rockhold (middleweight)
- Omari Akhmedov (light heavyweight)
- Ronny Markes (light heavyweight)
- Ali Isaev (heavyweight)
- Todd Duffee (heavyweight)
Team Los Angeles
- Cory McKenna (atomweight)
- Jessica Penne (atomweight)
- Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (strawweight)
- Cynthia Calvillo (strawweight)
- Aspen Ladd (bantamweight)
- Leslie Smith (bantamweight)
- Ray Borg (bantamweight)
- Urijah Faber (bantamweight)
- Chad Mendes (featherweight)
- Tyler Diamond (featherweight)
- Sage Northcutt (lightweight)
- Tony Ferguson (lightweight)
- Lorenz Larkin (welterweight)
- Louis Glismann (welterweight)
- Grant Neal (middleweight)
- Uriah Hall (middleweight)
- Da Woon Jung (light heavyweight)
- Rashad Evans (light heavyweight)
- Frank Mir (heavyweight)
- Andrei Arlovski (heavyweight)
Team London
- Chiara Penco (atomweight)
- Kelly Staddon (atomweight)
- Josefine Knutsson (strawweight)
- Karolina Owczarz (strawweight)
- Julia Budd (bantamweight)
- Pannie Kianzad (bantamweight)
- Cameron Else (bantamweight)
- Josh Hill (bantamweight)
- Brett Johns (featherweight)
- Mike Grundy (featherweight)
- Benson Henderson (lightweight)
- Tim Wilde (lightweight)
- Danny Roberts (welterweight)
- Norman Parke (welterweight)
- Gegard Mousasi (middleweight)
- Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz (middleweight)
- Alexander Gustafsson (light heavyweight)
- Ilir Latifi (light heavyweight)
- Stuart Austin (heavyweight)
- Tanner Boser (heavyweight)
Team Miami
- Kayla Hracho (atomweight)
- Natasha Kuziutina (atomweight)
- Hannah Goldy (strawweight)
- Paige VanZant (strawweight)
- Cat Zingano (bantamweight)
- Mariya Agapova (bantamweight)
- Eric Shelton (bantamweight)
- Marlon Moraes (bantamweight)
- Andre Harrison (featherweight)
- Charles Rosa (featherweight)
- Anthony Pettis (lightweight)
- Jeremy Stephens (lightweight)
- Dilano Taylor (welterweight)
- Gleison Tibau (welterweight)
- Hector Lombard (middleweight)
- Yoel Romero (middleweight)
- Philipe Lins (light heavyweight)
- Thiago Santos (light heavyweight)
- Robelis Despaigne (heavyweight)
- Junior Dos Santos (heavyweight)
Team Sao Paulo
- Joice Mara (atomweight)
- Pamela Mara (atomweight)
- Camila Reynoso (strawweight)
- Viviane Araujo (strawweight)
- Alejandra Lara (bantamweight)
- Paula Bittencourt (bantamweight)
- Raphael Assuncao (bantamweight)
- Renan Barao (bantamweight)
- Julio Arce (featherweight)
- Maike Linhares (featherweight)
- Patricky Freire (lightweight)
- Lucas Martins (lightweight)
- Alex Oliveira (welterweight)
- Carlos Petruzzella (welterweight)
- Alan Patrick (middleweight)
- Douglas Lima (middleweight)
- Antonio Carlos Junior (light heavyweight)
- Mauricio Rua (light heavyweight)
- Bruno Cappelozza (heavyweight)
- Fabricio Werdum (heavyweight)
Team New York
- Bi Nguyen (atomweight)
- Marisa Messer-Belenchia (atomweight)
- Melissa Amaya (strawweight)
- Miao Ding (strawweight)
- Holly Holm (bantamweight)
- Liana Jojua (bantamweight)
- Jimmie Rivera (bantamweight)
- Zviad Lazishvili (bantamweight)
- Lance Palmer (featherweight)
- Kai Kamaka III (featherweight)
- Sidney Outlaw (lightweight)
- Kevin Lee (lightweight)
- Neiman Gracie (welterweight)
- Dillon Danis (welterweight)
- Phillip Hawes (middleweight)
- Chris Weidman (middleweight)
- Devin Clark (light heavyweight)
- Ovince Saint Preux (light heavyweight)
- Fabricio Werdum (heavyweight)
- Aleksei Oleinik (heavyweight)
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