Former UFC Title Challenger Signs With New MMA Promotion

Ovince Saint Preux had his last fight in the UFC in October, losing to Ryan Spann by first-round submission, but the 41-year-old isn’t done fighting.

OSP has signed with the new MMA promotion, the Global Fight League (GFL), per the official website. The GFL will launch in 2025 with a team-based concept, making headlines with its roster predominantly featuring fighters with big names who are competing at an advanced age.

OSP fits that concept, but he’s not the oldest fighter on the roster. While the exact details are unknown, Wanderlei Silva is also on the roster at 48 years old.

During OSP’s 16-year, 45-fight professional MMA career, he has amassed a 27-18 record with 20 finishes. At his peak, OSP battled Jon Jones for the interim UFC light heavyweight championship in Las Vegas at UFC 197 in 2018.

Jones won that fight by unanimous decision and went on to defeat Daniel Cormier to regain the undisputed title.

Leading up to the fight with Jones, OSP began his UFC career with a 7-2 record, with his only losses coming against Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira. The loss to Jones marked the start of a three-fight losing streak, including a brutal knockout by Jimi Manuwa and a split decision loss to Volkan Oezdemir.

OSP rebounded with a three-fight win streak over Marcos Rogerio de Lima, Yushin Okami, and Corey Anderson. However, he was never able to sustain a strong enough run to climb back into championship contention.

During his UFC career, OSP became known as a bonus machine, racking up nine performance bonuses. As he enters this new chapter of his MMA career, he may have an opportunity to capture the gold that eluded him in the UFC.

As it stands, the GFL’s light heavyweight division isn’t stacked with fighters who appear to be a mismatch for OSP. One might argue he looks like the strongest fighter in the division, which currently includes Alexander Gustafsson, Thiago Santos, Cleiton Silva, Da Woon Jung, Emiliano Sordi, Grant Neal, and Rafael Carvalho.

We’ll see which team OSP is drafted to and how the promotion plans to determine matchups and individual championships. Once that information is available, we’ll have a better idea of how OSP and others signed with the promotion will fit into the GFL.

Based on information from the promotion’s website, the following fighters are part of the roster:

Heavyweight

• Alan Belcher
• Aleksandr Maslov
• Aleksei Oleinik
• Andrei Arlovski
• Fabrício Werdum
• Frank Mir
• Junior dos Santos
• Oli Thompson
• Greg Hardy
• Guto Inocente
• Philipe Lins
• Robelis Despaigne
• Roggers Souza
• Stuart Austin
• Tanner Boser

Light Heavyweight

• Alexander Gustafsson
• Cleiton Silva
• Emiliano Sordi
• Ilir Latifi
• Rafael Carvalho
• Thiago Santos
• Da Woon Jung

Middleweight

• Gegard Mousasi
• Chauncey Foxworth
• Glaico Franca
• Héctor Lombard
• Jared Revel
• Jozef Wittner
• Kyle Daukaus
• Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz
• Luke Rockhold
• Markus Perez
• Phil Hawes
• Wanderlei Silva

Welterweight

• Abubakar Nurmagomedov
• Austin Tweedy
• Adilet Nurmatov
• Benson Henderson
• Danny Mitchell
• Dominick Meriweather
• Francisco Trinaldo
• Joao Zeferino
• Jozef Wittner
• Jordan Mein
• Julio Spadaccini
• Michael Irizarry
• Rousimar Palhares
• Ruan Machado
• Tyron Woodley

Lightweight

• Amirkhon Alikhuzhaev
• Aaron McKenzie
• Anthony Pettis
• Alex Oliveira
• Ayton De Paepe
• Charles Rosa
• Feruz Usmonov
• Gabriel Souza Galindo
• Ayinda Nah Octave Tiphaine
• Christian Giagos
• Benson Henderson
• Ayinda Octave
• Jefferson Pontes
• Jeremy Stephens
• John Makdessi
• Kevin Lee
• Killys Mota
• Lucas Martins
• Mohamed Tarek Mohey
• Oscar Ownsworth
• Raimundo Batista
• Sidney Outlaw
• Stephen Beaumont
• Will Brooks
• William Lima
• Yan Cabral

Featherweight

• Alexsandro Lopes Cangaty
• Bubba Jenkins
• Andre Harrison
• Claudeci Brito
• Deberson Batista
• Lance Palmer
• Marcel Adur
• Marcelo Dias
• Marlon Moraes
• Mohammad Abzakh
• Patrizio de Souza Janurario
• Renan Oliveira

Bantamweight

• Cameron Else
• Denis Palancica
• Diego Teixeira
• Jimmie Rivera
• Marciano Ferreira
• Omar Arteaga
• Renan Barão
• Marcus Paulo Amaral

Women’s Bantamweight

• Alexa Conners
• Queila Braga
• Pannie Kianzad
• Tonya Evinger

Women’s Flyweight

• Chiara Penco
• Kalindra Faria
• Miao Ding

Women’s Strawweight

• Bi Nguyen
• Viviane Pereira
• Silvania Monteiro
• Hannah Goldy
• Jessica Penne
• Kayla Hracho