GFL Draft Grades: Which teams are set up for success in 2025?

On Friday night, Global Fight League held its inaugural draft with its six teams selecting 20 fighters across 10 weight classes. Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley had the honor of being selected as the No. 1 overall draft pick for Team Dubai, and when it was all said and done, 12 former UFC champions were drafted along with a slew of other top names in MMA. So, now that we know the teams, let’s review the draft and take a guess at which teams are best set up for success in when the promotion kicks off in April.

Team Dubai

Dubai had the first overall draft pick which they used to select Tyron Woodley, following that up with Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Derek Brunson. I’ll be honest, none of those people were high on my draft board. After all, Woodley is 42, hasn’t fought in four years, and is on a six-fight losing streak across all combat sports. That doesn’t exactly scream “First overall draft pick to me.”

Fortunately, they weren’t really punished for it as the other teams passed on some of the best fighters available to be drafted. Tofiq Musayev and Damir Ismagulov were arguably the best options at any weight class and Team Dubai got them both. That’s the lightweight division locked up, and Ali Isaev was probably the best heavyweight available as well. Omari Akhmedov, Timur Valiev, and both featherweight selections are also high-quality fighters, which means Dubai may just need to win one of their remaining five weight classes to claim a team victory.

Team Dubai has some clear weaknesses (Arlene Blencowe is the only proven woman on the squad who isn’t completely washed), but its strengths are the strongest of any of the six teams.

Grade: A-

Team Los Angeles

Oof.

Like many Los Angeles sports teams throughout history, Team L.A. appears to have made the classic blunder of choosing sizzle over steak. L.A.’s first four picks were Sage Northcutt, Aspen Ladd, Tony Ferguson, and Urijah Faber. When drafting Aspen Ladd is the best thing you do, something has gone horribly awry.

Urijah Faber is 45 and hasn’t competed in almost six years. God knows I love him but Andrei Arlovski hasn’t looked good in over a decade! Sage Northcutt was never good to begin with! And don’t even get me started on Tony Ferguson.

Lorenz Larkin, Tyler Diamond, and maybe Ladd are the only fighters I have any confidence will be able to pick up wins for the L.A. Codgers. Add in the fact that Rashad Evans is apparently not even actually on the team and I’m confident predicting this is going to go poorly.

Grade: F

Team London

Hmmm. I’m starting to sense a pattern here. Almost all of Team London’s fighters are European, just like most of Team Dubai’s fighters had some connection to the U.A.E. I’m starting to think this wasn’t an actual draft… No, surely not. Probably a total coincidence.

Anywho, I like a lot of what Team London has going on here. London went Gegard Mousasi, into Alexander Gustafsson, into Josefine Knutsson, into Brett Johns to start the draft, and while those definitely weren’t the best picks, they filled out the rest of their roster nicely.

The foundation of Team London is its women’s divisions as the Euros can expect to be highly competitive in all three of those weight classes and as fans found out in the 2022 MMA World Cup, a strong female corps can carry a team a long way. On top of that, the rest of The King’s Team may lack for flash and excitement, but they don’t have too many total duds, meaning they should be a tough out in any weight class.

Considering the Brits don’t have drafts in their sports, they did a decent job here.

Grade: B

Team Miami

Team Miami is a real mixed bag.

The Miami Speedboats (none of the teams have names, so I’m declaring this one, get on board) took Junior dos Santos in the first round, Anthony Pettis in the second, Yoel Romero in the third, and then Natasha Kuziutina in the fourth. Kuziutina is actually the best pick of the bunch as she’s legitimately good and should be the top atomweight competing. Romero was also a decent selection given the deplorable state of the other middleweights, and while Pettis is definitely washed, he’s probably less so than many other draftees.

The rest of Team Miami is as suspect as a square grouper. Philipe Lins is actually a great pick but Marlon Moraes, JDS, Hector Lombard, Gleison Tibau, and Thiago Santos are all various levels of “I’m uncomfortable watching you fight still” while the others have some skills but were never elite competitors. The lack of an developing talent may prove to be a big flaw for Team Miami but they’ve got enough pieces to compete.

Grade: C+

Team Sao Paulo

Now this is a team!

Sao Paulo came out of the gate and drafted Fabricio Werdum, Douglas Lima, Carlos Petruzzella, and Camila Reynoso with its first four picks. While the opening two are terrible, Petruzella and Reynoso are great. They’re both young, undefeated prospects who are probably about to spend the rest of the year putting old dogs out to pasture for their team.

On top of those two weight classes being in good hands, Team Sao Paulo also has above average talent at featherweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight, plus reasonably capable fighters in every other weight class. Sure, there are a few fighters here who are past their sell-by dates, but setting those aside, Team Brazil is surprisingly well-rounded. They may lack the highs of Team Dubai, but Sao Paulo has more depth. They are a front-runner to win this thing.

Grade: A

Team New York

Well, I know who I’m picking to finish last.

Genuinely, who are you supposed to be excited about if you’re a New York fan? Chris Weidman retired a week ago and should’ve retired a lifetime ago. Kevin Lee is Kevin Lee. Lance Palmer was decent once upon a time but now? I won’t even deign to give Dillon Danis a real mention. Bi Nguyen is 6-9! What are we doing here?!?!

Alan Belcher might be the standard-bearer for this team which should demonstrate just how dire things are for Team Longo and company. If you live in New York, it’s better to be a Jets or Giants fan than watch this squad.

Grade: F