Global Fight League (GFL), the new team-based MMA organization launching in April 2025, recently signed former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez. The 42 year-old Californian will serve as Team Manager alongside longtime American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) coach, Javier Mendez.
“We are proud to be the first professional sports organization where men and women compete on the same teams and share revenue streams equally,” said Darren Owen, GFL Founder and Commissioner. “The incredible drawing power, athleticism, and competitiveness of the world’s best female fighters will be pivotal to our success. This groundbreaking approach represents a new era for MMA, where male and female athletes share equally in the league’s achievements.”
In addition to Velasquez, GFL also added 60 new female athletes to its women’s roster, including former UFC and Bellator MMA fighters like Cynthia Calvillo, Julia Budd, Jessica Aguilar, Pannie Kianzad, and Livinha Souza, just to name a few. The promotion’s 2025 draft gets underway in less than a month.
Velasquez (14-3) has not competed since suffering a knockout loss to Francis Ngannou back in early 2019. The part-time luchador is still facing prison time after pleading “No Contest” to attempted murder charges late last year. Sentencing is expected to be handed down later this month, which could impact Velasquez’s ability to manage for GFL.
That’ll be tough since he’s going to be in jail.
Nahhhhhhhh Free Co Cain
I want to see this succeed so bad but I just don’t see it happening with this shitty team concept that we’ve already seen tried and failed with IFL years ago.
Unfortunately, I set the over/under on how many cards they do at .5
It would be nice to see some vets/old-timers evenly matched in the twilight of their fight careers
Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is the latest big name to be snatched up by the fledgling Global Fight League.
But Velasquez won’t be fighting. The 42-year-old will serve as a manager in the team-based league, the GFL said Friday in a news release.
Velasquez named his longtime trainer at American Kickboxing Academy, Javier Mendez, as his team’s head coach. Mendez’s pupils include Velasquez and UFC champions like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev and Daniel Cormier.
The expectation is that the GFL will start as a six-team league with events around the world. Ultimately, there will be playoffs and a championship card. The teams will be made up of both male and female fighters, and the promotion’s early back-pat is that the revenue stream will be shared equally among the fighters and promotion.
A draft is set for Jan. 24, which for Velasquez represents an interesting situation. He is scheduled for a sentencing date the same day in Santa Clara County (Calif.) court for charges including attempted murder.
Velasquez has been out on bail since November 2022. A full list of charges includes attempted murder (one count), shooting at a motor vehicle or aircraft (one count), assault with a firearm (three counts), assault with a deadly weapon (three counts), willfully discharging a firearm from a vehicle (one count) and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony (one count).
Velasquez initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed his plea to no contest in August.
Velasquez was arrested nearly three years ago after he allegedly pursued and shot at a man, Harry Goularte, accused of molesting Velasquez’s then 4-year-old son at a daycare. Velasquez allegedly chased a car carrying Goularte and family members during a high-speed chase with a bullet striking Goularte’s stepfather, causing injury.
Goularte faces a felony charge of lewd acts with a minor that still is in the trial setting and motion hearing phase. There also is a coinciding civil lawsuit by the Velasquez family against Goularte, his family and their businesses.
Let’s start the petition on Truth Social for Trump to pardon him
He isn’t
Im all for men in their late 30s and 40s fighting each other where they arent being lead to slaughter.
But for fucks sake with the team bullshit. This isnt a team sport.