There has been a certain excitement in the air surrounding new MMA organization ‘Global Fight League’, but UFC veteran Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith is not buying into the hype just yet.

The 2025 GFL draft took place this past January, with big names such as Tyron Woodley, Sage Northcutt, Alexander Gustafsson, Junior dos Santos, and Fabricio Werdum in the mix to make things all the more interesting. Given the star power they currently have spread across 6 teams, the newly formed promotion could be drawing a decent audience who are interested in turning into a different kind of show.

But, former UFC fighter, commentator and analyst Anthony Smith feels that it will not be an original viewing experience, and clearly questions the longevity of the organization as a whole.

“It’s weird,” Smith told MMA Fighting. “I’m not totally sold on it yet. They’ve yet to hold an event and I don’t know anything about the promotion other than the fighters that they have signed. From what I hear just through the fighter grapevine, they’re paying crazy money. So I don’t suspect it’s going to be around that long.

“That old model has been tried over and over and over again and it doesn’t work. I don’t what they would be doing that’s different from what everyone else is done other than throw big money at old, aging fighters.”