It’s not every day there’s an MMA draft, but Friday there was
The 2025 GFL Draft took place virtually with a live stream on MMA Junkie. Six teams, each representing a major city, drafted from a pool of approximately 500 fighters, including big-name free agents and rising prospects.
One-hundred-twenty athletes were be selected across 10 weight classes (heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight, women’s bantamweight, women’s strawweight, and women’s atomweight). However, the weight classes are divided slightly differently than the traditional weight classes. The promotion says it’s an effort to combat weight cutting.
Click here to see which fighters are eligible for the draft.
The six teams are managed and coached by MMA notables, as follows: 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); and Sao Paulo (manager Lyoto Machida and coach Andre Pederneiras.
While a specific date has yet to be revealed, the promotion says it will launch in April with regular season, semi-finals, and finals events held throughout the year.
The 2025 GFL Draft results are as follows:
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)
