Canadian light-heavyweight Tanner (The Bulldozer) Boser is hoping for the best Friday, hoping his name gets called in the inaugural Global Fight League draft.
The new mixed martial arts outfit, with Canadian Darren Owen at the helm, is a team-based promotion offering its fighters a chance to share in the revenue it generates.
Teams in Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and São Paulo, Brazil, will each draft 20 fighters from a pool of more than 420 including Boser and some 15 other Canadians including John (The Bull) Makdessi, Jordan (Young Gun) Mein and Julia (The Jewel) Budd.
Teams will choose two fighters for each of the GFL's 10 weight classes (seven for men and three for women).
Boser has done the math, knowing just 12 light-heavyweights will be drafted. The GFL website lists 27 eligible light-heavyweights including former UFC champion Mauricio (Shogun) Rua and UFC title contenders Alexander (The Mauler) Gustafsson and Thiago Santos.
"Any idea what might happen? No," Boser said in an interview. "I'm optimistic and I'm hopeful, but I recognize that there's stiff competition and there's no Canadian team, so I needed to get drafted by a foreign team."
The 33-year-old from Bonnyville, Alta., who now calls Edmonton home, was not re-signed by the UFC after his contract expired. Boser (23-10-1) left the promotion on a winning note, earning a unanimous decision over American Aleksa Camur in Nashville in August 2023.
That evened his UFC record at 5-5-0, having fought both as a heavyweight and light-heavyweight since making his debut in October 2019. His UFC journey took him to Boston, Kansas City and five times to Las Vegas as well as Abu Dhabi and Busan, South Korea.
The UFC opted not to renew Boser's contract, which was surprising given he faced some tough foes and generally acquitted himself well. He is also somewhat of a colourful, entertaining character.
Boser isn't sure why he wore out his welcome but thinks some less-than-generous comments about a couple of UFC sponsors in an interview did not help his cause. Plus there are cheaper fighters out there ready to take his place.
"If you're not one of the guys that's drawing tons and tons of eyeballs, the current model is to turn you over with a (Dana White's) Contender Series guy that gets 10 and 10 (US$10,000 to show plus a US$10,000 win bonus)," he said.
"Dana White's Contender Series" is a TV show that offers fighters a chance to earn a UFC contract with a good performance.
Boser was on his third UFC contract. As such, the basic purse for his last fight was US$46,000 or $48,000 with a matching win bonus.
"I was making what to me was good money," he said. "I was happy with my contract. I wasn't even trying to get more for my next contract.
"It becomes a business decision, I believe, to just turn over the vets and the guys like me and sign a bunch of 6-0 Contender Series guys and you know eventually one of them is going to make it. You're going to get a Sean O'Malley or something. and the rest, well they'll get rid of them too."
American (Suga) Sean O'Malley won a Contender Series bout in July 2017 to improve to 9-0-0. Eleven fights later, he was UFC bantamweight champion.
The Global Fight League says it will share 50 per cent of revenue generated from its shows with the competing fighters, also earmarking a portion of profit to the athletes as a retirement fund and to cover insurance.
"I like the concept of it, because it's a win-win," said Boser.
The GFL guarantees fighters a base pay with the chance to make more depending on the revenue the show generates.
"I'm happy with my base pay so if I get more than that, that's amazing. But I don't need to get more than that either."
Fighters like Boser who are eligible for the draft have a contract with the GFL but will remain a free agent if they go undrafted.
There were few options for Boser when the UFC door closed. He got an offer from the Professional Fighters League but the contract never arrived and the PFL bought Bellator soon after, adding more fighters to its stable.
"From what I understand there were a lot of guys like me whose deals basically got shelved and just put on ice and they overinflated their roster with the Bellator acquisition," he said.
Boser says he has no interest going back to a regional show. He got a day job — he was a program officer at a jail — and taught kickboxing and MMA classes at a gym.
"That's me paying back my coach and the people who helped me," he said of teaching.
He has been training in advance of the draft, in the hope that the GFL offers a second chance.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2025.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
