Benson Henderson has kept himself quite busy since retiring from MMA competition, and now has a new role with the Global Fight League.
GFL, which launched with a league draft, a lot of hype, and two events scheduled in 2025, wasn’t able to get off the ground in 2025. At the end of this past year, the promotion said they had plans for 2026, and to “stay tuned.” Earlier this week, GFL revealed a new Athlete Performance & Wellness Council, which includes Henderson, along with other notable names such
as Tyron Woodley, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, and others.
Ahead of his RAF 6 matchup with Aljamain Sterling this Saturday, the former UFC lightweight champ explained why he chose to be involved.
“I think Darren Owen, the, the CEO of GFL has a great vision for what he’s seeing,“ Henderson told MMA Fighting. ”I think the vision for GFL, it works. It makes sense. It’s there. We have to have some moving parts fall into place. Of course, a lot of it is backing, the money. The last time GFL fell through was because they one of their largest backers ended up falling out at the last minute.
“So I think that, GFL, as soon they find that all the moving parts they need, I think it could be something really big, something really special.”
Since retiring from MMA under the Bellator banner following a loss to Usman Nurmagomedov, Henderson has competed for Karate Combat, Misfits Boxing, and in multiple grappling matches. “Smooth” most recently was submitted by Arman Tsarukyan in a grappling match at ACBJJ 18 this past September.
As far as where GFL goes from here, Henderson was asked if he believes the promotion will hold an event in 2026.
“I think towards the last quarter of 2026, I see them having their first show,” Henderson said. “I can see the plans are to have it a little bit earlier than that, but I think, maybe having a big show [at the end of the year, end of 2026, having their first show, I could see something like that happening.”
