Fallout from the Global Fight League canceling their big debut weekend double-header continues to reverberate through the MMA scene as around 60 aging fighters come to terms with the reality that the big money contracts they signed aren’t going to cash out.
The GFL arrived on the scene in dubious fashion after multiple years of delay and scant details on where the money was coming from to pay reportedly huge fighter contracts. But GFL head Darren Owen was an established name in the sport that helped run Word Series of Fighting and PFL. So many fighters were willing to overlook many warning signs in the hope that the promotion would at least get rolling before the wheels fell off.
That was not the case. GFL held a draft event to assign fighters to teams (don’t get us started on that), but recently announced that their May 17th/18th events were being cancelled. Or postponed? We had gotten reports that Owen was contacting fighters with a ‘revenue share plan,’ which GFL signee and former UFC fighter Alan Belcher discussed in a new Instagram video.
MMA fighter Alan Belcher speaks out on the GFL not happening on May 25th.
Alan says GFL owner Darren Owens is still trying to make the fights happen — even offered him some revenue share if he fought for a non-guaranteed purse.
( : @alanbelcherufc) pic.twitter.com/SbXy9pFkyq
— COMBAT SPORTS TODAY (@CSTodayNews) April 14, 2025
“Man, it seems like it’s all just a big … I don’t know, for lack of a better word, scam?” Belcher said. “I don’t know, man. But that’s just what it looks like. There wasn’t any proof of the money that was supposed to be paid to the fighters, and we all got screwed on this one.”
“He is still trying to make the fight happen. I talked to Darren the other day, and he offered to give me some revenue share and stuff if I would fight for not a guaranteed purse.”
GFL critic FightOracle got his hands on a spreadsheet being shared with fighters on the revenue share and noted it was a profit share, meaning the event had to break even before anyone else got paid. And with the numbers Owen was sharing, that was not likely.
“He’s projecting event revenue of $5 million for 1 event minus $1.3 million to produce,” FightOracle tweeted. “The $5 million figure is the low end projection. High end $11 million plus. Projected profit $3.75 million. The $3.75 million would be paid out to 30 fighters (15 fights). Main event gets combined 30% of the $3.75 million profit or $562,500 each.”
“He’s projecting $3 million in media rights, $800k in ticket sales, $1 million in sponsorships, $250k in merch. These are the low end projections. These are completely unobtainable figures. This is FYRE FESTIVAL.”
Fyre Festival was the infamous 2017 music fest with $1500 tickets that stranded attendees in an abandoned parking lot on a remote corner of an island with barely any food and water. Many lawsuits and documentaries were launched over the event, but that didn’t stop the shameless promoters from launching Fyre Fest 2, coming at the end of May.
Unrelated to Fyre Fest 2, we’ll keep you updated on the status of the GFL’s rescheduled MMA event.
