Exclusive: Colleague of 20 years shares how Joe Rogan will impact GFL's status as MMA industry runner-up after PFL 'dropping the ball' with Bellator

Former UFC commentator Mike Goldberg recently opened up about the newly formed Global Fight League (GFL) and shared his thoughts on how Joe Rogan's acknowledgement of the MMA promotion will affect its success in the industry.

Founded by Darren Owen, the GFL is expected to launch in April and has a 300-strong fighter roster with 120 athletes divided into six teams. The promotion has notably signed a host of high-profile MMA stars like Tyron Woodley, Luke Rockhold, Frank Mir, Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, and Fabricio Werdum, among many others.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Goldberg opened up about his connection to Owen after being revealed as the play-by-play commentator for the GFL and detailed how the promotion convinced him to get on board.

Goldberg then spoke about the hype behind the GFL draft in January and said:

"I mean, my partner for 20 years, Joe Rogan, was talking about it with Brendan Schaub the other day. If Joe's buying in, then there are a lot of people, lot of fighters, lot of fans, lot of broadcasters and lot of journalists like yourself are buying in. That's what is most exciting."

Goldberg then pointed out that the GFL could potentially overtake the PFL as the No.2-ranked MMA promotion in the world after the UFC and said:

"There's a lot of room for a second strong organization. The PFL is faded. They really dropped the ball with Bellator, which breaks my heart... Now 85% of them [Bellator stars] are with us."

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Joe Rogan, Brendan Schaub, and friends discuss the GFL roster after draft

The GFL and its highly hyped draft were topics of discussion during an episode of Fight Companion for UFC 312 on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Joe Rogan invited Brendan Schaub, Bryan Callen, and Matt Serra as his guests.

During the broadcast, Rogan questioned how the GFL was signing so many famous veterans and asked:

''So they’re throwing a lot of money around, right? Is that how they got guys like [Chris] Weidman, all these guys to come out of retirement? Who’s fighting?"

Schaub responded to Rogan's query by revealing that a Dillon Danis vs. Tony Ferguson fight was in the works for GFL's main fight in April. He said:

''The main fight that I’m told is Dillon Danis-Tony Ferguson.''