On Friday night, Global Fight League held its inaugural draft with its six teams selecting 20 fighters across 10 weight classes. Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley had the honor of being selected as the No. 1 overall draft pick for Team Dubai, and when it was all said and done, 12 former UFC champions were drafted along with a slew of other top names in MMA. So, now that we know the teams, let’s review the draft and take a guess at which teams are best set up for success in when the promotion kicks off in April.

Team Dubai

Dubai had the first overall draft pick which they used to select Tyron Woodley, following that up with Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Derek Brunson. I’ll be honest, none of those people were high on my draft board. After all, Woodley is 42, hasn’t fought in four years, and is on a six-fight losing streak across all combat sports. That doesn’t exactly scream “First overall draft pick to me.”

Fortunately, they weren’t really punished for it as the other teams passed on some of the best fighters available to be drafted. Tofiq Musayev and Damir Ismagulov were arguably the best options at any weight class and Team Dubai got them both. That’s the lightweight division locked up, and Ali Isaev was probably the best heavyweight available as well. Omari Akhmedov, Timur Valiev, and both featherweight selections are also high-quality fighters, which means Dubai may just need to win one of their remaining five weight classes to claim a team victory.

Team Dubai has some clear weaknesses (Arlene Blencowe is the only proven woman on the squad who isn’t completely washed), but its strengths are the strongest of any of the six teams.

Grade: A-

Team Los Angeles