Special announcement breaking news announcement some information on a new MMA promotion coming out and so now here is the time here is the time to learn more and we've got a lot of information coming your way so sit back relax strap on your seat belt it was almost exactly three years ago today would you believe it three years ago today December 8th 2021 today is December 11th 2024 on December 8 2021 on the old MMA hour Program we had a gentleman named Darren Owen on the show and he announced uh a lot of information regarding
the world fight League you may recall in September of 2021 on the substack we wrote a whole bunch of stuff about this new promotion coming out well then he came on three months later and laid out all the plans and and and told us that the plan was in February of 2023 for it to officially launch I think the date up the top of my head was February 5th 2023 well that Date has come and gone but now he is coming back and he is here to talk about the launch of the global Fight League
they've got the plans they've got the dates they've got the venues they've got the fighters it appears to all be coming together and so without further Ado let us say hello once again to Darren ow there he is hello Darren hello again how are you doing great thank you uh good to have you back um it's it's been amazingly three years To the day uh that you were last on with us and uh on that day we talked about the world fight League league today you are here to announce a whole host of things and
and and the plans have changed just a little bit obviously the dates have come and gone but I want to give the floor to you to announce what you want to announce yeah thanks Ariel appreciate that very much um in September we secured our seed round of financing to Actually launch the the league um lots of things have obviously changed over the last few years um a lot of things are obviously still the same as far as you know what what we're looking to do as far as the the format the the structure and all
that and we're ready now so we've we've got venues booked we've got fighter signed um and it's it's go time okay so and it is the global Fight League yes yeah so our our trademark that was you know obviously a Number of things kind of happened over the years but um shortly after it came on your show the trademark got challenged in Europe world fight league so that prompted the change to Global Fight League that was a bit of a process um and then just kind of get everything getting everything that needed to be in
place before we really started to sign any Fighters and it just took a lot longer it took significantly longer to to raise the necessary funds to launch Um and it was it's been a grind but never quit never give up just kept moving forward dream never died Vision never stopped so um thrilled to finally be underway in operation and uh and ready to go and and so is that part of the reason why um you know when we spoke in 2021 you said that the the plan was February of 2023 three uh why did that
date come and go the funding wasn't in place that's pretty much what it came down to and you know I think it's Somewhat of a blessing in disguise I think we're in a a lot better position now just as far as the industry goes um you know I I've brought on a legitimate team of non MMA individuals that have experience across all the major professional sports leagues so you know the idea was there the the passion and motivation was there but you know a lot of the the fun fals that that needed to be in
place to launch a league at at the level we were planning to do it just Weren't all in place at that time and it just uh it just took a little more time to get to where we needed to be um I asked you uh three years ago about the backing and and so you've alluded to some of the people who are are backing this this uh Venture and I don't want to call it a promotion because you corrected me last time that it's not a promotion it's it's it's more of an organization and and
the structure is more akin to a uh professional sports League if you will could I ask about who is behind this obviously we know you you're the founder you're the face of it all but who is actually behind this uh our our main investors a tech entrepreneur out of Silicon Valley he's our partner on our app we're launching with the league um that's our our big financer we've had some other you know friends and family people help out along the way but for the most part that's the that was the one we were waiting for
to Kind of fill up that round to to really just have everything we needed to to launch and and do it the right way and can I ask specifically who that that is I don't know if he wants his actual name okay out there um yeah I don't I don't think he wants his name okay an some people do some people don't uh but so I told a couple people and then ultimately what happens is everyone starts hitting him up and trying to sell him X Y and Z So just not not interested in totally
understand um totally understand okay so so so what is it what is the global Fight League so we're launching six Global teams uh four different continents and we're launching our proof of concept season starting in April we have multiple venues booked in multiple different cities around the world we're embracing our flexibility to begin with and doing that 5050 Revenue share the team versus Team proof of concept season and it's it's finally lined up we have uh 300 fighter signed as of right now our draft is January 24th um on those six teams there's 20 athletes
per each roster so we'll sign 120 of the of the actual Fighters that have signed and then we'll get underway with events in April okay so uh okay so there's a lot there can I ask where are the six when you say teams um if you can specify what that is and where are they Located so we haven't we're not announcing the teams yet we're going to announce the teams the names and the logos uh early in the New Year okay we have like 10 10 different cities books so what's kind of been happening is
we announced to some of the fighters and managers some of the locations uh we kind of being counter programmed venue wise so we're we're kind of just keeping everything quiet until we're our whole season is locked In and ready to be announced uh countered by who just some of the venues that we had talk to are booked by other bigger promo or big promotions okay so almost theoretically we come kind of blocked out of some location so we didn't want to go out and and announce where we're going understood um how many fighters are on
each team 20 20 Fighters 10 weight categories Two fighters per each weight category so each team will have a Set of teammates in each of the 10 weight categories so seven men's weight divisions three women's weight divisions and uh so I'm assuming heavyweight light heavyweight middleweight welterweight uh lightweight featherweight Bantam weight so are we just staying at Bantam weight okay and then is it 115 125 135 for women uh no so what we're doing we really want to eliminate extreme weight cutting and and obviously you know tackle as many of the issues as as we
Realistically can um so our our weight divisions are not historically how they are so like our our Bantam weight is is 145 feather weight's 155 so everything kind of goes up by 10 pounds uh middle weights 200 light heavyweights 225 oh and then our three women's divisions it's 120 130 140 wow and is that okay with the commissions like because the unified rules of MMA kind of state that those should be the the numbers like 115 125 135 yeah either we'll just do everything as a catch weight and we're just calling it the gfl weight
C atories are going to remain the historical weight category so if a Fighter's been a welterweight their entire career they'll they'll be a gfl welterweight um however they'll weigh in at 180 instead of 170 okay and and uh the I'm assuming the the teams are like you know the Los Angeles just throwing a name out there like the Los Angeles hat Global cities around the world yeah do I Have to be a Los angeles-based fighter to be no it's just anyone yeah just just like how every other major professional sport is you're going to have
athletes from anywhere in the world competing on those teams um we are going to have head coaches we've we've signed some you know world class head coaches to to coach these teams we're we're not forcing the athletes to move and relocate or anything like that we're giving them the ability to hey if You want to move to let's just say la and let's just say train with hael Cordo as our head coach you have the ability to do that if you want to stay wherever you live and train with your head coach we're not looking
to you know change any of those bonds that have existed for years and years between fighter and Coach um and then when the fight happens are you allowed to be coached by your own team or do you have to be coached by the team assigned so yeah you're you're Coached by your own team and the same thing you know if you want an an extra that head coach in your corner or pre-event helping strategize or or whatever giving any input they're they're there and available for that if that's not something you're interested as an athlete
you don't have to you don't have to take advant that if you don't want to okay and so you you mentioned about 300 Fighters signed yeah but there's a draft coming Up and only forgive me 120 120 are going to be selected so what happens to the other 180 free agents they're they're currently free agents now so we we put promotional agreements in place them signing our agreement allows them draft eligibility so that means essentially we know what their their purse amount is we know what their revenue share percentage is um and if if we
come to terms then then They're eligible their exclusivity window doesn't start until February 1 so we haven't prevented any fighters from taking any fights and if they're if they're not selected to a team and and they won't be a rostered gfl athlete uh they're they're free to do whatever they want like they've always have been um are you prepared to announce any of the fighters that are a part of this 300 or so fighter pool absolutely okay this is the good stuff what do we got who do we Got we got we got names um
Luke rockold Tyron Woodley vanderlay Silva uh Anthony Pettis Kevin Lee Frank Mir fabrio verdum Junior do Santos uh we've got Hector Lumbard uh Benson Henderson there there you go all right so these are some of the top 50 Woodley Doom Pettis alexio linck JDS Hector Lombard Luke rockold Abu Baka magov Vander Silva Alex gustofson the former UFC title Contender there's more Thiago Santos Andre Lucas martinz Gabriel Souza Kevin Lee Frank Mir B nen Charles Rosa Allan Belcher these are of the top 50 follow de latifi Jeremy Stevens Marlon Moray Benson Henderson all these guys gagar
musasi all these guys are are on board all these guys are signed and there's more Greg Hardy and huel carvalo and Lance Palmer and Bubba Jenkins and Phil HW robless despine Marcus Perez is there more there's more that's all we have but there is More there is more uh and so so when they say like those guys are all like you you draft them they're in y wow that's I mean the first thing that comes to mind is like it's expensive to have those names yep but you guys you have the funding you're ready to
go we're we're funded we're 100% ready to launch everything's in line that that needed to be in line we've we've waited as as long as we needed to wait to get to this Point and now it's time you know our funding came in in September so since then it's been go time put everything into place and here we are um so you mentioned the schedule can you tell us when when did you expect to start April April do you have a date locked in uh we have four dates locked in in April and then just
depending on you know there's some big names still out there that that we're talking to and we obviously want to set ourselves up in The best position to to launch and you know figure all that out but we we have multiple EV multiple venues booked in different cities and then based on the teams and the matchups will decide where it's the most logical to to launch first and how many events in what cities so today you're not going to announce dates venues Etc no okay just April April Start got that's when uh season starts um
big question obviously is how can people Watch this and uh usually the success of a organization a league a promotion is tied to their their rights deal their TV rights deal their streaming rights deal do you have One Secured we have the ability to stream on our own platform so that's first and foremost is if we don't secure the necessary deal with the right partner then we have the ability to to do all that on our own um if the right deal does come along with the right partner That it does make sense then we'll
take that deal so it's either the you know the bird in the hand or we'll we'll take the two in the bush with uh we know taking all the profits ourselves from from our own app are are you close to securing something with a a streaming platform or a broadcast network we we've had kind of early conversations the the plan was to obviously kind of like break the news announce all the fighters that we have signed those are obviously the The valuable assets it's it's the collection of those names and their following and and their
careers and what they've done um and and this is just a platform to give them you know something to Showcase their you know what they do and their skill set um but January is the plan to have actually all those official meetings and pitches and see how it goes from there um when does the the app launch when the league launches okay We're yeah same in conjunction with the league launch so so if if uh if you don't secure a deal that you like you guys are prepared to air this on your app um it's
it's it's a lot of money being left on the table no I mean you can make a significant amount of money from a from a deal are you comfortable with that if the deal makes sense 100% we're going to take you know if one of these major streaming providers come out and say like hey we know how valuable Live sports content is we we see the value in a a global League where you have fighters from all over the world that have their own following and you know you saw what Tyson and Jake Paul just
did as far as numbers go so the fact that you know this is about you know securing the most popular fighters in the world giving them a a logical platform to perform on and obviously see see what the best deal is we're obvious looking to secure the most revenue and However we do that um the benefit is is every fighter benefits from any Revenue we bring in so come January 24th we're going to have 120 salespeople that are also pushing to to help this drive and and you know as they are true Equitable partners with
the league uh I remember when we when we first spoke you told me that there there will be owners for each team um but now you mentioned the the investor have have pled Chang is it just like is everyone owned by one Entity starting off as a single entity it was just honestly too difficult to try to get eight individuals to participate to get on the same page nobody wanted to be the first team to buy in um you know we have some Lois in place with a couple different individuals who who want to buy
a team have committed to buying a team but we're we're at a place now where we don't need that funding and we believe that if if we do this Ourselves and execute the way we're confident that we can we're only going to drive the revenue or the the value of these teams up and then take them to Market when we've established you know a proof of concept season and you know just we're selling something that's way more valuable than just an idea are so can can you break down how it all works like with with
the season and the playoffs and the points and all that stuff because uh that's a little Different as well yes so as far as the season with all the venues and and everything we have we're you know we have what we are planning to do and we're just kind of putting that all into place with with all the different vein it's it's a fairly complicated you know Global schedule to put together um we're we're being flexible in the fact that wherever these home City teams are we're not necessarily hosting all the events in Those cities
so like how the NFL has games in London Brazil we'll be doing the same thing so you could see two us-based teams competing in Tokyo Stockholm wherever okay um and then it's like a point system right with playoffs and all that yeah so how the point system works fairly simple there's four points available for every fight four points for the Finish win three points for decision win two points for a draw one point for decision loss and zero Points if you get finished okay and then uh it's just basically like standings at that point yeah
so the total accumulative at the end of the regular season they're bracketed in the playoffs and you just run out the bracket that we're all so used to do all six teams make the playoffs no top four okay um and and you know three years ago I had mentioned to you that just being candid that you know I don't feel like the team format Works In Combat Sports I said it to you back then uh I I feel just the exact same way now in fact perhaps I feel even stronger uh I know FL isn't
team um but this type of format with the standings and whatnot is sort of like the pfl and we saw the team format with the IFL I'll ask you again why am I wrong here why is this why is this going to work because I feel like it's about rivalries it's about stories I don't feel like the team system and format Works in mixed martial Arts why am I wrong well I I think you just said it right there with with rivalries and stories so the fact that we're able to create unique storylines that have
never EX existed in the sport and that's you know one thing that we we keep hearing is you know everyone loves the sport of MMA but the story lines are are often not there where what we this brings is you know the talking points the okay are these two fighters going to be teammates or are they going to Potentially be fighting and you know just different strategies that come in different betting elements that come in um just that like the number one driver in sports fandom proven is cheering for your favorite team favorite teams have
never really existed in the sport of MMA so we're just creating what already exists and you see it across all the major professional leagues in the world and this is just the Implement Implementation of That team-based League model for the third most popular sport in the world and the fact that we have these popular athletes who people already are emotionally invested in or know their name or know their story in their background um you know I think that's going to be the Difference Maker with us is you know we're going to have wild matchups that
you know people wouldn't expect to see um but also we're going to have the best Global top Prospects available and having them competing as well so you're going to have this contrast of you know established veterans that household MMA names that that people recognize but then we're also going to showcase the next generation of upand cominging talent from all around the world um a lot of the new fans may not remember the IFL I certainly do do can you tell me why this is different than the IFL yeah number one just the the structure Of
it so IFL again was a promotion they operated as such um they also didn't go all in on their team versus Team there would often be three or four fights from One Gym versus another gym and then they would have super fights or you know featured fights so it wasn't an Allin on the hey team versus Team I also think that the time of where the world was um when the IFL originally lach launched um but you know I think they were I think they were on to something you know we' I've talked to a
lot of guys who were part of the IFL and they loved it they they love the concept they love the idea um so this is you know in some way just a different way of doing that but going all in on the actual way to what I believe to do it and to do it right and the economics Revenue shares is right I think Game Changer okay and so and and that's 50% correct so whatever Revenue we receive whether it's media rights deals Sponsorships ticket sales all of that 50% goes into the fighter Revenue pool
from that specific event and then those Fighters that are on that event are the ones who share in that Revenue percentage and obviously every fighter is not equal so we've nego every negotiation is their base guaranteed pay we also have a win increase so we don't do the show win half your money half your money there it's uh hey this is what you're getting worst case scenario To to show up and do your job and if if you're successful the next time you you show up your your pay increases so your guarantee increases and athletes
get paid either or whatever is greater their guaranteed amount or their revenue share percentage so someone might have a $50,000 guaranteed purse um and they earn 1% Revenue share but if there's 10 million in that in that re Revenue pool for that event then they're going to receive 100,000 instead of what they Were thinking was 50,000 can Fighters wear sponsors no okay however they get 50% of all of our sponsorship Revenue so by you know keeping exclusive sponsorships on our uniforms and everything else we're obviously going to increase the value of that to as as
much as we can possibly get and share all of that with the athletes as well are you guys going to do pay-per-view yet to be seen um Everything's kind of opening uh right now we have the ability to go pay-per-view we have the ability to do subscription on our on our app um or we'll we we'll take a deal if it's if it's there and if it makes sense are you going to be like the face the the for lack of a better Example The Dana White of the organization are you the guy that's going
to be standing there facing people off or is there another face it'll be me for now okay Um last time when we spoke you said February 5th you had the date and all that can you say definitively this is launching in April of 2025 yeah we have we needed the money it's finally there that's that was kind of the the thing holding us back before we had we had a lot of momentum we had a lot of support um you know we we we're having a lot of con I was you know if you asked
me at the time what are the chances you think you're going to get The funding in I I probably would have said 99% and I've I've eaten some Humble Pie over the past few years to just really set this thing up in a way where we can't fail okay uh is there anything I didn't ask you about um retirement Revenue share or uh Insurance funds that's the other thing i' you know love to let it be known that we we're including a retirement element and and Insurance Fund for for all of our athletes as well
okay and and uh so Is is it like a percentage goes into this pot how does it work yeah so whatever their total pay is for that fight 8% is contributed to their uh retirement f fund and 2% contributed to their Insurance Fund and then they have the ability to choose whether they want their own private insurance or however they want to uh use those funds okay how many how many events in 2025 we'll let you know okay all right and uh exclusive contracts like once it Kicks in once you're drafted you're you're you're fighting
for you guys y but everyone's deals different one guy can have X amount X years whatever it is yeah like everyone's different as far as their their purse amount their percentage amount um some some Fighters are you know interested in having only two fights in a season uh some want to be as active as possible so there's there's a few different you know elements to it but for the most part It's you know everyone's been super supportive and excited to to finally get this underway all right well congratulations thank you for coming on thanks for
sharing all this with us we mentioned uh two names that are going to be joining us in a matter of seconds that's Anthony Pettis and Kevin Lee for now though again thank you congrats and uh to a degree I also say good luck because you know now the fun really starts now you're about to to to launch Into outer space so we will be watching and uh covering and and seeing how it all unfolds thank you Darren thanks AR always appreciate you all right there he is Darren Owen the founder of the global Fight League
and in a matter of moments we're going to be joined uh by the appfor mentioned Anthony Pettis and Kevin Lee two of the fighters of the many that we just showed who are uh apparently tied to This Global Fight League and and I wanted to do this cuz Last time we just had Darren on and we left it at that now they have all these fighters who they say have signed committed well I'd like to hear from the fighters um you know who a lot of them have fought for other organizations they've they've heard it
all they've seen it all um you know how do they feel about this do they believe I I'll say the same thing that I said to him and it's the same thing I talked about pfl I have skepticism when it comes to the Teams when it comes to the format when it comes to the standings when it comes to all these things and more uh I feel quite strongly about the way the fight game operates and and and should operate um but God bless them good luck and obviously good to have um you know good
to have options out there for the Fighters first and foremost good to have that uh security good to have that protection uh they are offering a lot of things that we talk about on this show Uh when it comes to you know Revenue share and and and security for the fighters and whatnot and so without further Ado uh let us say hello wait I've been actually itching to hit the brid breaking news button so let's do that while we are continuing to frame up the guest okay I was just told that we had the guest
that's is this going to is this going to be enough time that was long enough to frame up the guess or do I Have to keep going more I'm not sure we're good now oh now we're good okay well thank you for that Frank we probably should have done that at the beginning of all this now let us say hello to Anthony Showtime Pettis and the mtown Phenom himself Kevin Lee there he is uh good to see you both uh very much appreciate it uh Kevin it's been a while my friend great to talk to
you and thank you Anthony for the time as well uh Kevin let me start with you um we just Heard from Darren everything and one of the reason why I wanted to have both of you on I wanted to have two big name fighters on I wanted to hear it from you guys if you believe in all this if you're in if you're on board it's one thing to hear it from you know an executive it's another to hear it from the guys who are actually competing so are you on board are you signed is
everything that you heard him say legit yeah I'm I'm in on it um you know we've Had a couple conversations and I I I like the energy that the man puts out um and then even when you get down to the contracts I'm a veteran in the game now so I've seen big contracts I've seen from smaller promotions all types of stuff uh and when you go over the contract it's it's very clear on on what they can and can't do and there's a lot of incentive for us uh which we don't get in in
other promotions um when you start talking about the 50-50 Revenue Share and everything kind of being upfront and Center uh these are things that I think have been big problems in MMA for a long time we all know the big problems uh and finally somebody is actually trying to trying to tackle this thing so when I saw the contract um and I went over like all the the details about it uh it it made a lot of sense it's it's great promotion for us it's a great reason for us to go out and promote because
now we actually get a Split of of what we bring at home instead of just a hope and a dream Anthony you're a veteran you're you're a former champ you have fought for a bunch of different promotions you are a promoter yourself uh a are you on board and if so why yeah I'm on board I mean obviously the opportunity for these Fighters that have other organizations to go to is uh is it's huge for for me as where I'm at in my career to see these younger fighters Have opportunities to go other places besides
just one place um we haven't seen anything like this Revenue splits at 50% you know I have my own organization apfc to be able to share Revenue percent splits like that with the fighters is unheard of so far and uh like Kevin said I've seen the contract you know it's pretty clearcut what we're getting and then uh you know I'm a prize fighter you know they came with an opportunity that was you know very Lucrative for myself and for my family and the the back end of that you know if these these things pick up
these Fighters are in a great position to make a lot of money Kevin how do you feel about the team format and the draft and the league and all that stuff it's a little bit different it's akin to the IFL from back in the day and a little bit like the pfl uh but it's not traditional to what you know MMA fans know when you think of you know the UFC Or strike force or Bellator Etc how do you feel about it uh I like it I I like that you know maybe now we can
have some Unity amongst Fighters uh and we can kind of have you know if you got a team of 20 guys now you got 19 guys that can back you in in in negotiations and and who you fight and when you fighting uh and maybe now we can actually have some some Unity behind it um I think that's something that's been missing in in MMA for a long time it's just been you know You against the world almost uh every man for himself and and now maybe we can actually do something with it I I
think there some details that need to be ironed out as far as you know who's on what team and and what the teams even are um but when when the idea was approached to me it sounds a little bit more like like wrestling like amateur wrestling where you have uh you know your individual championships but then at the same time Everything going towards a team and I know from from competing and wrestling that gives you a little bit added motivation as a competitor it gives you a little bit something else behind it because now you
19 guys that are dependent on you uh and having a team trophy is it was a big thing even in college wrestling when money wasn't involved so now that money is involved and and and all of this other stuff I think it's gonna be good for the sport Uh Anthony we we we we showed a lot of the names that have committed uh such as the two of you and there's some Legends there some former Champions some former you know massive stars UFC and other organizations uh any any trepidation hesitancy is just about the the
money because you know Darren wouldn't tell us who the money is behind all of this and I'm not saying I don't believe him that there's money behind all this but you know the fight game people throw around Money we saw it with Affliction they had two shows and they went away any any trepidation about this I mean it's interesting you know I know what uh the contracts I've um that I signed the contracts I'm getting I mean they're they're coming in very fair and uh to say that uh you know it's not going to last
or it is going to last we have yet to see but so far I'll say this hereo the checks have cash you know so they they they've done some stuff that You know we've made sure it was official and so far we're in business okay yeah and I you know I see Tyron Woodley at the top of the list I was working with him uh last month for that Jake Paul Mike Tyson card and he was telling me the checks of cash they've been great uh they have said everything uh everything that they've told me
they were going to do they are doing and then some uh do do you have the same experience so far Kevin yeah same same experience you know And and you know come people have have brought that up like oh is this really going to be a thing how long is it going to last you know we've seen it with other promotions and this and that but I remember a lot of people saying that about the pfl too and they're on their fifth season and they're making millionaires you know every day that I'm down at Kil
Cliff I I see what guys are pulling up in I see how people are are you know what they are they they they Making money um in pfl and I feel like this can be the same thing if we all get behind it and if they got serious backers and if they got serious people meaning us behind it uh then it's going to be a thing we we're going to make it a thing and uh like you said the the checks have been cashed he hasn't gone back on on no word that he gave to
me and uh that gave me a little bit more uh you know Clarity in the whole thing um Anthony uh Darren said that there's Going to be a draft and people are going to be assigned to teams and you don't have to necessarily train with that team but you know it's an option and uh you're kind of representing that team if you will what happens and you know you you guys are a little bit older now I don't think you're trying to like fight with with people on the street and whatnot but what happens if
you get drafted to a team where you kind of just don't like the other guys on the team is That a potential issue I mean it depends on the weight the two guys per weight class I guess you won't fight the guy in your weight class so I think that might be an issue but I mean I I I see it as like you know you're part of the team when you go to these events but then most guys train at their home gyms anyway so I mean the team format is going to be implemented
when we're versus each other in team vers team whe whether we're going to Brazil we're going to Abu Dhabi or wherever we're going that's where the team Implement format happens but you know guys like to train their own gyms you know Kevin trains in Florida I trained in is we're going to stay in our own gyms but if we're on the same team obviously it's it's incentives for us to both to do well I hope this succeeds I hope every fighter gets paid I think every fighter is underpaid I think you guys deserve millions of
dollars and you Deserve millions of dollars in back pay as well and on and on it goes and so I'm wondering for you Kevin why do you think this will work now why do you feel what what where's the confidence coming from that this is going to work that this is going to be the one because let's be honest if this does work this could revolutionize MMA with the 5050 if Fighters are actually truly going to get this and it can be sustainable this can change everything where's the confidence Coming from yeah I think you
know everything is in black and white and and that's how it goes um when you look at contracts and you and you compare it to say contracts and other organizations um is just more clearcut and it's and it's like I said it's it's in black and white so I do think that this can change how contracts are made in the future because at the end of the day that that's what it's about um it it's going to be a thing and and for me as an athlete the Biggest thing is is the fights right like
fighting is is something that I'm still seriously in love with it's the only thing that can push me to the to the next level as a as a human being it's made me a better person it's made me a better man a better fighter a better husband a better father all of that stuff uh so for me as long as the fights are are these are going to be serious fights you know you got guys like Anthony Pettis you got Tyron Woodley you got gar mousasi who who's on the uh who's on the roster I
mean any fight that gay guard is in I I'm watching that and I know that it's it's going to be a serious fight so as long as the fights are and and everything there is is there it's gonna be a big thing Anthony did they promise you x amount of fights per year yes and it's an option too so that's why it's dope Kevin was say man it's very uh in the fighters favor man So we have an option they they have to guarantee us a certain amount of fights but with my contract I'm sure
everybody fighter contract is different but there's a certain amount of fights that I have to have that's an option if I want to do them if I don't want to do them I get to decide if I want to fight this fight sit out let my teammate fight if I'm injured um so it's not like you like the pfl you have to fight and if you're not injured you're out if you Like there's there's ways where you can be part of this team and be part of the the tournament as long as you're you know
with with your with your squad you know if you're hurt your guy goes in but yes I was I was promised a guaranteed want to fight in my contract I still can box I can still do crowdy combat so I'm in a really good position where like I couldn't say no to this kind of a contract okay and and for you Kevin are you exclusive to them or are do you have The ability to do other stuff uh I got I got the ability to box or or do other you know things outside of MMA
um you know Terrell Owens is is oo cinko is kind of out there talking a little bit and he made videos talking about he can beat any lease so if that comes up and I end up boxing him or or you know do some stuff out outside of MMA that that's cool and then I come back and and can still compete in MMA because MMA is the home I mean MMA is the real deal the the Rest of these these Combat Sports are you know it's just fun and play so they they'll let me play
they'll let me go make some money but uh this this is the real deal by the way just to be clear you versus trell Owens or you versus ooo yeah they not the same person I I don't really follow they're not the same person Terell Owens is you know he put my name in his mouth and uh you know there might be something there I don't know I might see Him down here Miami and and slap him up a bit okay you know if he's not going to do MMA fight so that's why I say
they'll let me go and and box him or something like that but come back to MMA where where my real home is and where the real fights are okay well um I appreciate you guys coming on I wanted to hear from the fighters as well and uh I think you guys have painted a really good picture have I have I missed anything is there anything else that you want to maybe There I'm sure there's a million fighters who are going to hit up all the guys who were listed like tell me more about this is
there any detail that you guys think that I missed that should be shared with the world uh the retirement f is a big one you know black and white yeah um and and it's and it's there you know and it's not just kind of put all on you and you know you take care of yourself and you know that you you're not signing as a 21 Year old guy who who's never made money before and don't know what you're doing uh you you actually got lawyers and people behind you and and contracts in place to
where they are going to take care of you uh before during and and after the fights and and so far you know this is still in the before phase but they've taken care of me before and and I got confidence that they're going to take care of me afterwards too uh Anthony what did you want to Say uh I said I'm sure more stuff's Gonna Roll out but lightweight division is 165 pounds that's a big one oh yeah yes we've been talking about that yeah he said it was like 55 65 75 85 and it
sounds like you guys like that will you both be in the 65 pound division I'll be 65 uh yeah absolutely yeah I'm definitely this could be a fight this could be one of the fights right here yeah we never fought teammates you Never know you never know that's that's the beauty of it you never know how it's gonna play out uh and I think like like Darren said that's kind of one of the talking points on it are they gonna be teammates are they gonna be Fighters you know I got a massive amount of respect
for for Anthony Pettis uh I damn near froze to death in Milwaukee coming up to try and train with him way back in a day in like 2013 uh he was one of the guys that I that I looked up to and we had a Nice little build up to a fight before he fought uh Tony Ferguson so you know it could go it could go either way which is the fun of the sport like you know friends turn enemies Idols Rivals you never know so I I think I think the whole thing could could
be fun and it could be interesting uh for the fans and for us Fighters love it well thank you guys appreciate it good luck with this uh thank you very much Anthony great to have you on again and Kevin great to Talk to you as well hope everything is going great in your life and uh wish you guys the best in 2025 and uh with the the the whole launch of all this is going to be really interesting so thanks so much for coming on guys appreciate it no doubt keep doing big things keep doing
big things I see you out here thank you guys thank you Kevin I appreciate that as well uh there they are Kevin Lee and Anthony Pettis uh great to catch up with them and uh great To great to hear from them great to hear about all of this a lot to digest a lot to digest about the global Fight League um we showed you a lot of the uh a lot of the slides there was the one slide with the um with like the the playoffs and all that with the points let's take a look
at that one more time if we can uh he broke down the points there it is four points for a finish three for decision two for a draw one for a decision loss zero for a finish loss Obviously points contribute to the team's total score and then uh I guess it's a bracket afterwards with the cities the six cities one versus four two versus three finalists it starts up in April of 2025 and the draft kicks off on jary 24th 2025 and so that is going to be something uh to watch as well coming up
in a little over a month's time all right let's let's digest I knew about Some of this but obviously you know didn't speak to Darren and definitely didn't speak to the fighters beforehand Rick what do you think Rick's usually the straight shooter he'll tell us like it is your thoughts on all this information that has just been dumped on our laps I'm trepidation from the perspective that this is a giant undertaking that's my that's my one thing is this is a this is a massive Thing to try to upend the industry in this specific way
is something that you just can't anticipate right and so I will say I'm almost like encouraged by the fact that they didn't launch in 2023 and the fact that they now are trying to get their ducks in a row two years after that right like you talked about February 5th 2023 being the potential launch we're now about to be 2 years or remov from that that actually gives me a little bit of Hope and a little bit of Encouragement for their success in the in the perspective that they've now got two extra years of time
having tried to solve um the issues that are plaguing MMA and then you just have to kind of like take it from the horse's mouth in terms of Kevin Lee and Anthony Pettis talking about uh the contracts and the agreements and the offers that they have been presented uh being favorable to the fighters now the qu the larger question that hangs over all of this is is not Specific to this league and not specific to any League at all it's can a can an organization that has contracts that are favorable to the fighters in the
way that this league has presented succeed right because the UFC has become very successful because of their margins and not um offering these contracts that are extremely favorable to the fighters in fact they are very not favorable to the fighters to the point that the UFC is the is taking home the the vast Lion Share of that money and has made them ultimately extremely successful can a league that changes that Paradigm can a league that presents Fighters with much more Equitable contracts be successful we we will remain to be seen but it seems like they
have the funding to be able to do that as uh Anthony said and you said you spoke to Tyron Woodley the checks have cleared so far so the money is there um at least initially let's see if the fans turn out for it Right all these things ultimately are secondary until the product launches and the fans either show up and watch I don't know if their broadcast deal you know will be on television or what um or show up to the arena to watch uh in the stands if there is demand and there are names
here that I'm interested in so seeing fighting if there is demand we will see ultimately how much they're able to generate and what that percentage goes to the fighters and if They're able to operate with the other 50% if they can take that other 50% and make the business work there could be something here but this is a this is a massive undertaking and I'm not skeptical because of Any anything they are doing but just the the task ahead of them and anybody who's trying to enter this space can I just say it was great
to talk to Kevin Lee uh by the way uh Kevin dropped a little nugget there he he was we could still hear him after oh Uh Gladiator 2 movie of the year he heard us talking about it on the front and he said I need to can anybody hear me right now I need to tell you I heard Moana I heard Wicked glad so shout out to Kevin Lee who was watching earlier Kevin man Gladiator too great film so he's not wrong on that I love Kevin it was good to see to see Kevin and
Anthony I mean these are look these are names that I care about these are names that I still want to see compete and names that Like um still get me to go oh that's interesting that they're fighting so there's a lot of names on that roster that we saw and the signings that we saw that have that same effect can they ultimately get people to watch on their broadcast channels can they ultimately get people to fill Arenas to watch them is going to be the make or break um but the the the signs are encouraging
in terms of what the athletes are saying about what's been presented to Them fascinating stuff look I I think that and and tremendous breakdown by the way thank you for that um I think it is fair to say I want to wait and see yes because skepticism the team the league the history and all that but I say that also for this reason we can't ignore the fact that 3 years ago Darren was on the show and promised a lot and I actually watched the interview 3 years ago and this is not me taking a
shot I would say The same and I've said the same to him privately as well we need to actually see it now and um when I when I rewatched it this morning obviously we've done a gazillion interviews since then so a lot of the stuff was like oh yeah I forgot about this he was quite definitive about the February 2023 date and remember that interview was December of 2021 so it wasn't even it wasn't even like oh it's coming up in 3 4 months it Was a year year and a half away essentially a year
in like 3 four months um and it it didn't happen and and credit to him he was very candid about that it was about the funding and and I understand but I want to see it happen now I want to see I say here's why I'm encouraged by that though and and I said it a little bit but I'll be more definitive please it could have been a case where they say we're launching February 5th 2023 no matter what and that could have been a disaster right you only get one shot at this this is
not the type of thing where you're going to get get to start stop you're not going to get a a a a a start and then be able to resume if they had launched in February 2023 I'm confident in saying they might not have they would not have been able to make this successful the fact that they waited till the funding was secured and felt like they had the established uh Money that they needed to fund this and felt like they had the systems in place to fund this to me is an encouraging sign I
would actually have been more terrified of the idea if they did launch in February 2023 I almost feel like that extra time and the securing of that funding is responsible they are taking a responsible path to try to do this properly I'm I'm I'm truly encouraged by the fact that it took this long I will say yeah I mean look it's a nice way to Put it um let's see how it shakes out but as you said you have the product is where this is going to live and die that is it we have to
see it you have to make it happen and we have to see what happens from here I can't change my stance just because we got the exclusive and they came on the show and I appreciate it very much and it's it's it's a fascinating thing and I I it's it's a privilege to just be able to Rifle off these questions right they can Hold a press conference they can hold a conference call that's a privilege but my stance is still the same it cannot change until I feel otherwise or proven otherwise I I am skeptical
that the team format that the league format that the playoff format that the point system format I am skeptical that that works I I I I fear that it does not work um as far as um MMA and Combat Sports are concerned this is my fear and so let's see what happens um um it's ambitious I Think that's that's a good word there's a lot of names I've seen some other names that they are trying to get on board as well that they haven't announced just yet those are big names uh there's there's a lot
that could potentially go great there's a lot that can't go great I will also say this I I think having a streaming deal would be big I think having a TV deal of some kind a broadcast deal if you will would be gigantic I think that would speak Volumes right like who's the top right now it's probably Doone right um if you have a deal with his own if you have a deal with anyone um an Amazon an apple a Max a prime uh that is Amazon of course uh Hulu ESPN plus all the players
name them name them that goes a long way right that goes a very long way launching on the app doesn't feel quite the same uh so these are a lot of things that need to happen between uh now and April when they say they're going to Launch um I I I do feel like there needs to be more players I do feel like there needs to be more competition and I don't say that because I'm looking for someone to take down the UFC the UFC is going to be the gold standard from now until we're
all gone that's just a fact the UFC is so far away and better and and buttoned up it's just a fact it's like WWE like there could be people that will pop up but they are Kleenex when it comes to MMA and even probably more so than WWE if we're being honest um that's how dominant they are right now and so I don't say that because I'm like oh I want some competition to take down the UFC no I say that because I want the fighters to have options to have places that they can go
if they're not ready for the UFC or if they're not welcome in the UFC or if they don't want to Res look at Muhammad makv you know he got let go he was probably the next best guy Right you could have made a case that he should have been next to fight Pantoja and not EG and not asakura and he has to go to Brave you think he wanted to go to Brave probably not that's no knock on Brave but they're not considered one of the top dogs if you will pfl doesn't have a flyweight
Division and then you're you're done there's no one else right um so having another major player would be great having another major player like we have in pro wrestling Where Okay aw is there that's your major player but there's also even a TNA and there's a new Japan and there's there's you know some some other leagues around the world that's great we don't even have that it feels like um so I think this would be beneficial for all the fighters I really do think so thanks for watching this video hey before you go do me
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