The sad Global Fight League (GFL) saga continues to get stranger and stranger as the fledgling mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion attempts to regain its footing after canceling its May doubleheader weekend.
Indeed, news broke last week that GFL was pulling the plug on its two debut events on May 24 and 25 and would attempt to reschedule everything for sometime in June, somewhere outside of California. Since then, we’ve heard from multiple fighters that GFL head cheese, Darren Owen, has been attempting to rebook things under a profit share scheme rather than with traditional fight purses.
Now, we have VaynerSports manager, Lloyd Pierson — who represents GFL-signed fighters like Urijah Faber and Tony Ferguson — sharing what reads like a prelude to a lawsuit with Uncrowned, accusing GFL of, “financially harming” his clients.
The most interesting tidbit in this statement was Pierson’s claim that Owen shared screenshots of a GFL bank account with a $20 million balance to prove his promotion had the money on hand to back up its big talk.
OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL:
31 fights. 2 nights. 6 teams. 1 global stage. The first GFL Season launches in Los Angeles with a two-day team vs team MMA mega-event at the iconic Shrine Auditorium – May 24 & 25. Tickets will be on sale in April, stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/3aBtDgr4kn— Global Fight League (@mmagfl) March 31, 2025
When asked about this, Owen told Uncrowned that his unnamed primary investor dropped that money into their account … and then pulled it right back out.
“He transferred $20 million into our bank account to prove he had the funds,” Owen claimed. “He transferred the funds out of the account the same day. We had a monthly schedule of funds typically in the $200,000 per-month range that he had been funding without issue until April. Whether it was the market crash or him getting cold feet, he did not fulfill his April obligation and subsequently halted our progress.”
“Liberation Day” has thus far done little more than liberate United States money markets of $11 trillion in value, and we imagine there’s never been a worse time to be funding an ambitious team-based MMA promotion. Add in the fact that big money broadcast deals are now few and far between, and it’s not shocking that “Mr. Mystery Investor” pulled the plug on things.
If all this is true, Owen can sue his investor and Pierson and sue Owen. Hopefully, somewhere along the line of legal hot potato the fighters can get paid something.
To checkout the latest regional GFL news and notes click here.
