Tag: Sidney Outlaw

Global Fight League announces launch, roster includes giant list of former UFC fighters

GFL has arrived – and it’s bringing fairly massive names from UFC yesteryears with it.

A new player has entered the MMA landscape, and it has arrived with some big names.

Wednesday, Global Fight League (GFL) announced its official launch will come in the opening weeks of 2025. The GFL concept differs from that of UFC and PFL.

While it has a league format and playoffs, it is also team-based and has a draft. There will be six franchises (names and cities to follow). The draft is scheduled for Jan. 24, with an inaugural event to follow in April.

Who’s fighting?

Co-founder Darren Owen revealed on “The Ariel Helwani Show” on Wednesday that the promotion has over 300 fighters under contract. Not all fighters will be drafted.

Of the 92 fighters posted to the promotion’s official website, 45 of them are former UFC fighters. Names include Tyron Woodley, Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Gegard Mousasi, Wanderlei Silva, Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski, Kevin Lee, Fabricio Werdum, and Junior Dos Santos among others.

Scroll below to see the released names:

  • [autotag]Marcel Adur[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Amirkhon Alikhuzhaev[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Andrei Arlovski[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Omar Arteaga[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Stuart Austin[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Renan Barao[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Deberson Batista[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Raimundo Batista[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Stephen Beaumont[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Alan Belcher[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Tanner Boser[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Claudeci Brito[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Will Brooks[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Yan Cabral[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Alexsandro Cangaty[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Pedro Carvalho[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Rafael Carvalho[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Alexa Conners[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Kyle Daukaus[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Ayton de Paepe[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Patrizio de Souza[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Marcelo Dias[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Miao Ding[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Junior Dos Santos[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Cameron Else[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Tonya Evinger[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Kalindra Faria[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Marciano Ferreira[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Chauncey Foxworth[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Glaico Franca[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Alexander Gustafsson[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Greg Hardy[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Andre Harrison[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Benson Henderson[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Phil Hawes[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Guto Inocente[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Michael Irizarry[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Bubba Jenkins[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Pannie Kianzad[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Kevin Lee[/autotag]
  • [autotag]William Lima[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Philipe Lins[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Hector Lombard[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Ruan Machado[/autotag]
  • [autotag]John Makdessi[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Lucas Martins[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Aleksandr Maslov[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Jordan Mein[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Dominick Meriweather[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Frank Mir[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Silvania Monteiro[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Marlon Moraes[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Killys Motta[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Gegard Mousasi[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Bi Nguyen[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Abubakar Nurmagomedov[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Ayinda Octave[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Aleksei Oleinik[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Renan Oliveira[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Karolina Owczarz[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Oscar Ownsworth[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Denis Palancica[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Rousimar Palharaes[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Lance Palmer[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Chiara Penco[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Markus Perez[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Jefferson Pontes[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Jimmie Rivera[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Luke Rockhold[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Charles Rosa[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Thiago Santos[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Cleiton Silva[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Wanderlei Silva[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Emiliano Sordi[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Julio Spadaccini[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Andre Soukhamthath[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Roggers Souza[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Gabriel Souza Galindo[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Jeremy Stephens[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Mohamed Tarek Mohey[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Diego Teixeira[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Oli Thompson[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Francisco Trinaldo[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Austin Tweedy[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Feruz Usmonov[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Fabricio Werdum[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Jozef Wittner[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Tyron Woodley[/autotag]

What does GFL provide athletes that other promotions don’t?

According to Owen, GFL offers fighters a 50-50 split in revenue sharing. Additionally, the promotion provides comprehensive support for training and medical bills, retirement benefits, insurance coverage, and more.

Who is behind GFL and where is the money coming from?

Owen is listed as the co-founder and commissioner for GFL and serves essentially as the public face for the promotion. He served as COO of PFL vs. October 2015 to May 2020 and was the founder and CEO of World Series of Fighting Canada, according to his LinkedIn page.

Also listed on the promotion’s website are Arun Parimi (co-founder and COO), Scott Parker (CMO), and Jeffrey Pollack (senior advisor).

Owen declined to identify the source of the funds behind the operation, but did say it’s a silicon valley investor.

How does the regular season work?

Similarly to PFL, GFL has a point system for regular season fights.

A finish victory notches a fighter’s team four points. A decision win earns three points. A draw earns two points. A decision loss earns one point. If a fighter loses by finish, he or she walks away with zero points.

Terrance McKinney vs. Sidney Outlaw grappling match added to ADXC 2 on Jan. 19

UFC lightweight Terrance McKinney’s first action of 2024 will come in a grappling match.

UFC lightweight [autotag]Terrance McKinney[/autotag]’s first action of 2024 will come in a grappling match.

McKinney meets [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] in a welterweight grappling match on the main card of ADXC 2 on Jan. 19 at Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, promotion officials announced earlier this week.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1XZ0Oav9qF/

Headlining the event will be former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, who takes on fellow UFC fighter Chase Hooper also in a welterweight bout.

An NCAA Division II wrestler, McKinney returned to his furious finishing ways when he capped off 2023 with back-to-back first-round TKO’s of Mike Breedan at UFC on ESPN 51, and Brendan Marotte at UFC Fight Night 230.

Outlaw, a Bellator lightweight, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to former champion A.J. McKee in November. Prior to that, he picked up a win over Combat Sambo world champion Islam Mamedov in August.

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Bellator 301 results: A.J. McKee bloodies Sidney Outlaw, overcomes control disadvantage for unanimous decision win

Sidney Outlaw might’ve had control time in his favor, but A.J. McKee did all the damage at Bellator 301.

[autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] might’ve had the control time in his favor, but [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] did all the damage at Bellator 301.

Despite spending much of their lightweight fight on his back, McKee still came away with a clean-sweep unanimous decision win over Outlaw on Friday night at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. All three judges scored it 30-27 for McKee, underscoring the idea that control time alone isn’t enough to win a fight.

The tone was set in Round 1 as Outlaw (17-6 MMA, 5-3 BMMA) caught a McKee body kick and took him down within the first 15 seconds. For the remainder of the round, Outlaw mostly just held down McKee (21-1 MMA, 21-1 BMMA), who was active with punches and escape attempts from the bottom.

In Round 2, McKee defended Outlaw’s first takedown attempt, but Outlaw caught another kick moments later and used it to take down McKee. Immediately this time, McKee threw elbows to the side of Outlaw’s head and cut him over his right eye. Again, Outlaw appeared content to just lay on McKee, who eventually swept his way into a mount. At that point, McKee landed lots of punches until Outlaw managed to reverse the position and lay on McKee for the second half of the round. But the damage was done as Outlaw was leaking blood from his eye.

Before Round 3, the doctor closely examined Outlaw’s cut and allowed the fight to continue. McKee opened up with a level change and got a takedown in the first 20 seconds and hit Outlaw with a steady barrage of left hands. Outlaw did manage to reverse position to close out the backend of the final round, but just like before, he simply didn’t throw enough from his top position.

Unofficially, Outlaw had 11 minutes of ground control to 2 minutes for McKee. But McKee had an overwhelming advantage in strikes, 71-28, which included 17-0 on elbows landed.

McKee, a former Bellator featherweight champion, is now 3-0 as a lightweight. This was his first fight after an 11-month layoff. Outlaw has no alternated wins and losses in past three bouts.

Up-to-the-minute Bellator 301 results include:

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 301.

Video: Bellator 301 media day faceoffs feature Yaroslav Amosov, Jason Jackson all buddy-buddy

Check out the faceoffs from Bellator 301 media day in Chicago, where Yaroslav Amosov and Jason Jackson had a friendly encounter.

CHICAGO – Bellator 301 media day took place Wednesday with all 10 main-card fighters in attendance, and MMA Junkie was on the scene for the festivities and faceoffs that ensued at the host hotel.

The main event features welterweight champion [autotag]Yaroslav Amosov[/autotag] defending his title against [autotag]Jason Jackson[/autotag]. And in the co-main event, champ [autotag]Sergio Pettis[/autotag] and interim champ [autotag]Patchy Mix[/autotag] will meet to unify the bantamweight title.

Three other fights are featured on the main card: A rematch between bantamweight contenders [autotag]Danny Sabatello[/autotag] and [autotag]Raufeon Stots[/autotag]; former featherweight champ [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] in a lightweight grand prix alternate bout; and a lightweight grand prix semifinal between [autotag]Patricky Freire[/autotag] and [autotag]Alexander Shabiliy[/autotag].

After each matchup’s fighters fielded questions from reporters, they came together for faceoffs, which you can watch in the video above.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 301.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Sept. 11-17)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Sept. 11-17.

A.J. McKee targeted for return against Sidney Outlaw at Bellator 301

Bellator is looking to beef up its November event with the return of former champ A.J. McKee.

Former Bellator champion [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] is targeted to return to action in a key lightweight bout in November.

Bellator is in the process of finalizing a matchup between McKee (20-1 MMA, 20-1 BMMA) and [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] for its upcoming November event. Multiple sources with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the targeted booking with MMA Junkie following a first report from ESPN.

Bellator 301 takes place Nov. 17 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, and features two title fights at the top of the card. In the main event, welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov puts his title on the line against Jason Jackson. The bantamweight title will be unified in the co-feature, as champion Sergio Pettis faces interim champion Patchy Mix.

McKee, 28, will compete for the first time in 2023. The former featherweight champion was set to fight Patricky Freire at Bellator X Rizin 2 in July, but a staph infection forced him to withdraw from the bout. McKee last competed at Bellator X Rizin 1 on New Year’s Eve, where he defeated Roberto de Souza by unanimous decision.

Outlaw (17-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) will look to keep the momentum going from a unanimous decision win over Islam Mamedov at Bellator 298 in August. The 31-year-old lightweight suffered a setback to Tofiq Musayev in the bout prior, which followed a pair of wins over Adam Piccolotti and Myles Jury.

With the addition, the current Bellator 301 lineup includes:

  • Yaroslav Amosov vs. Jason Jackson – for welterweight title
  • Sergio Pettis vs. Patchy Mix – to unify bantamweight title
  • Patricky Freire vs. Alexander Shabliy
  • Raufeon Stots vs. Danny Sabatello
  • A.J. McKee vs. Sidney Outlaw
  • Ali Isaev vs. Daniel James
  • Tyrell Fortune vs. Marcelo Golm
  • Justin Gonzales vs. Timur Khizriev
  • Mike Hamel vs. Tim Wilde
  • Sumiko Inaba vs. Denise Kielholtz
  • Islam Mamedov vs. Killys Mota

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 301.

Sidney Outlaw credits camp switch for new mentality at Bellator 298: ‘I’m not the best. I’m a beast’

A little more than a year after a devastating knockout loss, Sidney Outlaw picked up a crucial win at Bellator 298.

A little more than a year after a devastating knockout loss, [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] picked up a crucial win this past Friday.

Outlaw (17-5 MMA, 5-2 BMMA) outworked Islam Mamedov (22-3-1 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) for a unanimous decision to open the main card at Bellator 298 in Sioux Falls, S.D. It was his first win since a June 2021 submission of Myles Jury.

Outlaw was set to fight then-lightweight champion Patricky Freire for the title in July 2022, but Freire was forced out of the fight. Outlaw instead fought Tofiq Musayev in a co-feature – and was knocked out in 27 seconds. Set to try to get back on track in Bellator’s lightweight grand prix, Outlaw failed a drug test and was removed from the tournament completely.

The win over Mamedov was a tough task for a rebound, and Outlaw said his move from American Top Team in South Florida to the nearby Kill Cliff gym paid dividends, even though he didn’t leave ATT on bad terms at all.

“I’m not the best. I’m a beast,” Outlaw said. “I just push, push, push, push. … I’m just a dog on a leash. … With my old team down at American Top team, a couple other people – they did good (training me). I was just lost there. I was lost. I was lost. I was sick. I was dealing with a lot of stuff. I don’t want to offend anybody or anything, but the team I’m with now is definitely for me.

“I’m not going to debate about (which team is better). I love (ATT founder) Dan Lambert. He’s one of the best. Look at the empire he created. Mike Brown – that’s my man. I love Mike Brown, Marcos (DaMatta), Artem Levin, my best friend. I don’t want to offend anybody and say, ‘Oh, this team is better.’ Obviously, you see the work. But I love those guys. I love every bit of them.”

Check out Outlaw’s full post-fight interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 298.

 

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (May 22-28)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by a promotion from May 22-28.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Feb. 20-26)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Feb. 20-26.

Sidney Outlaw out of Bellator lightweight grand prix after positive test for three banned substances

Sidney Outlaw’s time in the Bellator lightweight grand prix ended before it even started thanks to a positive drug test conducted by the ABC.

[autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] won’t partake in the Bellator lightweight grand prix after he tested positive for three prohibited substances in an out-of-competition drug test.

Associate of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports president Mike Mazzulli – who heads random, out-of-competition drug testing for Bellator – informed MMA Junkie on Tuesday that Outlaw submitted a urine sample during Bellator 290 fight week in California, which has been flagged for ostarine, cardarine, and anastrozole. All three substances are prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which is the standard held by the ABC.

As a result of his positive test, Outlaw has been suspended a minimum of six months. MMA Junkie confirmed with Bellator officials that Outlaw is out of his scheduled May 12 bout at Bellator 296 vs. [autotag]Mansour Barnaoui[/autotag] and out of the tournament completely. Brent Primus will replace Outlaw at Bellator 296 in Paris.

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Outlaw has not publicly commented on his test or removal as of this writing. As to what is public knowledge, he does not have past history of positive drug tests.

Outlaw, 30, has won three of his past four bouts, with his defeat coming in his most recent fight against Tofiq Musayev, a 27-second knockout last July at Bellator 283.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 296.