Global Fight League postpones inaugural MMA shows but it still plans to go ahead

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The Global Fight League has postponed its scheduled first two shows, but says it still plans to go ahead with the team-based mixed martial arts promotion.

“Our primary investor did not fulfil his scheduled funding obligation which has caused us to postpone our May events. However, we absolutely will be moving forward,” Canadian Darren Owen, the GFL founder and acting commissioner, said in an email to The Canadian Press.

He did not provide replacement dates.

The GFL was to kick off with back-to-back shows May 24-25 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Canadian Julia (The Jewel) Budd, representing the London team, was to have faced American Holly (The Preacher’s Daughter) Holm of the New York team, on May 24 in a bantamweight matchup of former champions.

Budd, a 41-year-old from Port Moody, B.C., is a former Bellator featherweight champion while the 43-year-old Holm held the UFC bantamweight title.

Randi (Rose City Phoenix) Field of Windsor, Ont., competing for Dubai, was to take on American Paige (12 Gauge) VanZant, a former UFC fighter who is a member of the Miami team, in a strawweight bout on May 25.

The GFL features six teams — Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Sao Paulo. The teams drafted two fighters from each of the 10 weight classes (seven for men and three for women) in January.

Key to the new promotion is the premise that athletes taking part in a fight card will share 50 per cent of the revenue generated.