Ex-UFC champion Tyron Woodley: Global Fight League paying me ‘boxing money in MMA’

It looks like Global Fight League is paying the big bucks, at least according to former UFC champion Tyron Woodley.

Woodley, who’s one of the first fighters to sign with GFL – a new MMA promotion set to launch in early 2025, is excited to return to the sport that made him a name in the sports world. Woodley had been boxing since his UFC release in 2021, but was lured back by what GFL offered him.

“I like it because the OGs get paid, man,” Woodley told Ariel Helwani. “Getting boxing money in MMA is a whole flex. I’m just excited to be part of the new wave.

“I’ve been wanting to get back in MMA. I really just kind of like put it on pause, I kind of ghosted it for a minute, and it never really ghosted me when I needed it, so I’ve been making the journey back in it. It was a good opportunity. It had some Ric Flair drip with the payout, and it made sense for me.”

A long list of former champions and notable names accompany Woodley in this new GFL venture. Fighters such as Benson Henderson, Junior Dos Santos, Andre Arlovski, Fabricio Werdum, Alexander Gustafsson are just some of the fighters signed to GFL.

Woodley, who’s left the UFC on a four-fight losing streak, said a lot of his former colleagues contacted him to make sure he was on board and that GFL was a legit player.

“I’m fully in with the organization,” Woodley said. “So many people call me and were asking me if I’m in because they know I’m not going to step on the plate and be a part of nothing that’s bullsh*t. I’m not going to be a part of something that’s not going to pay me super handsomely or put me on a platform where the media attention is going to build my brand up. So everybody that probably signed, maybe 90 percent, called me and made sure I was in.”