Mar. 31—Albuquerque's Holly Holm is matched against fellow MMA veteran Julia Budd on the scheduled May 24 debut of the new Global Fight League in Los Angeles, it was announced Monday.
Fellow Albuquerquean Ray Borg, a former teammate of Holm's at Albuquerque's Jackson-Wink MMA, also is scheduled to fight on the GFL's opening night. Borg is matched against Brazil's Marlon Moraes.
Holm (15-7) signed with the GFL in January after requesting and being granted a release from her contract with the UFC. The former UFC bantamweight champion was drafted by the GFL's New York franchise.
Budd (17-6), a former Bellator and PFL featherweight champion, will compete for London. According to information released on Monday, Holm-Budd is scheduled to be contested at the bantamweight limit of 135 pounds.
Holm, 43, has not fought since April 13, 2024, when she lost to former Olympic judo champion Kayla Harrison by second-round submission (rear naked choke) on UFC 300 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Budd, 41, last fought on June 16, 2023, defeating the Czech Republic's Martina Jindrova by unanimous decision — snapping a three-fight losing streak.
Borg (16-5) hasn't fought since March 11, 2022, when he defeated Ricky Bandejas by split decision on an Eagle FC card in Miami. Borg then announced his retirement after failing to make weight — which had happened repeatedly — for a scheduled Bellator fight in April 2023. But, based on his social media, it appears he's all in for a comeback with GFL.
Borg-Moraes is scheduled to be contested at the bantamweight limit.
Moraes (23-13-1) last fought on June 8, 2023, losing by second-round TKO to Gabriel Braga on a PFL card. The loss to Braga was Moraes' seventh in a row.
Borg was drafted by the GFL's Dubai franchise, Moraes by Miami.
The GFL's opening weekend (May 24-25) features other names familiar to Albuquerque MMA fans.
Former Jackson-Wink middleweight Derek Brunson (24-9) is scheduled to face Dagestan's Omari Akhmedov (24-8-1) on the 24th.
The following day, former J-W fighters Devin Clark and Phil Hawes are scheduled. Clark (14-9) is matched against Brazil's Thiago Santos (22-13) in a light heavyweight fight. Hawes (12-6) is scheduled to face Colorado's Grant Neal (9-2) at middleweight.
Other GFL fighters with local connections, not scheduled to fight in May, include Australia's Arlene Blencowe, who trains at Jackson-Wink, and former J-W heavyweight Andrei Arlovski.
Rashad Evans, another former Jackson-Wink fighter and a GFL draftee, is scheduled to face former UFC fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in the main event of a professional boxing card on April 12 at the Pit. It's not clear whether Evans plans to compete in the GFL.
After Holm signed with the GFL in January, Albuquerque's Lenny Fresquez, the fighter's longtime promoter and agent, told the Journal that Holm — a former boxing world champion — had received more lucrative offers to return to the boxing ring. He said that, in consultation with Fresquez and Mike Winkeljohn, Holm's longtime coach, she opted for the GFL for the future it offered her beyond her fighting career as a coach of a GFL franchise.
