Liddell supports fighter unionization efforts

Mixed martial arts is a mainstream sports. It’s the biggest driver worldwide of pay-per-view television buys. The sale of the UFC to WME-IMG now Endeavor was the largest sale of a sports property in history. However, unlike mainstream sports like football, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, and golf, MMA does not have a players association or union.

UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and said he was in favor of a union.

As a fan, you really want one big organization, and all the fighters to be in it, said Liddell, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. Remember back in the day when it was UFC and Pride, and now it’s just the best guys are here and we’re not having to guess who’s the best? It was almost like a pound-for-pound ranking, where you’re just randomly picking who would fit as best in the world. So for fans, I think it’s best to have one big league. A big league and then you’ve got the best guys in the world all in the one league.

But I think with that, if you’re going to have that, you really need a union, because [fighters] need to be getting a higher percentage of what’s brought in.

Liddell was asked if he supports the creation of a fighter’s union. He does, if there is just one, single dominant league.

Right. I think so. That’s as a fighter,” he said. “Now as a fan, I really want all my fighters in the same place and I want the best guys fighting the best guys. And I don’t want two 0-1 guys fighting on my card, wasting space on my card. That’s a fight fan. I understand the business side of that too, but it is what it is.

For fighters, it’d be more of like the boxing model — that’d be the better model. But again, remember for that, that’s better for the top-end guys. That’s better for your main events and for having that home run at the end of your career. I don’t know that the boxing model is better across the board for fighters, because I remember back in the day — I’m not a big boxing [expert], I don’t know a bunch about their money, how they spread it out, but from what I understood, the undercard was making almost nothing. I get it, but because there’s that home run, you’ve got a lot of guys willing to put money into you [financing a fighter vs. a series of tomato cans and a gatekeeper or two, with a massive payout with a win in a main event title fight or fights].”

So will it happen?

I don’t know, said Liddell. I haven’t done enough homework on that to tell you. I don’t know if there will be, but something is going to change eventually, I’m sure. It will be inevitable. It’s like everything else in this sport, it’ll keep evolving.

While change is inevitable, the efforts to date have proven problematic in various regards.

In 2009 Robert Maysey founded the MMAFA, which seeks to extend the Muhammad Ali Act to mixed martial arts. Their aim is to keep fighters as independent contractors, establish an independent sanctioning and ranking system, and then let the free market do its extraordinary thing. If you want to have champion Conor McGregor fight #1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, then promoters bid for the right, and whoever offers the highest purse gets to put on the fight. A bill supported by Congressman and retired fighter Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) is currently before the house now. The MMAFA is also extremely supportive of the Federal anti-trust suit against the UFC, which is ongoing.

The MMAFA is the established leader in the field, with unimpeachable integrity. However, if the Muhammad Ali Act extension comes out of committee, it will be voted on in the house. If it passes the House, it will be voted on in the Senate. If it passes in the Senate, it will be sent to President Trump. President Trump and UFC president Dana White are friends. White spoke glowingly of Trump at the Republican nominating convention. And the two reportedly speak regularly. The President can veto the bill, sending it back, where it will need a 2/3 majority vote in the Republican-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate to become law. The Trump administration is not pro-union. The UFC has hired a lobbying firm to fight the Ali Act expansion. So the bill faces a fight on the order of your plumber vs. Stipe Miocic.

In August of 2016, baseball agent Jeff Borris established the PFA; he sought to have UFC fighters reclassified as employees from their current independent contractor status, and form a union. He had said there would be a fighter board in place shortly, but later amended that, saying he did not want to offer names, for fear of retaliation. His most high profile fighter, Leslie Smith, apologized for introducing him to other fighters and severed ties, over a perceived violation of privacy. His attorney too severed ties. Borris flatly denied leaking any fighter support information. But little has been heard from him in ages; you can presumably stick a fork in Jeff Borris.

In November of 2016, Donald Cerrone, TJ Dillashaw, Tim Kennedy, Georges St-Pierre, and Cain Velasquez announced the formation of the MMAAA, which seeks to form a players association exclusively of UFC fighters, and then petition the league for a 600% increase in the amount of revenue that goes to fighters. The route to the raise was described as a strategy that had to remain secret. The groups funding was also described as a secret. It is widely believed that the MMAAA is financed by CAA, Pepsi to UFC owners Endeavor’s Coke. And it is widely believed that it was created by Bjorn Rebney, who wasn’t known as a progressive promoter.

Cerrone, Dillashaw, GSP, and Velasquez, have been largely or entirely silent since. Dillashaw said he may have been led down the wrong path. Kennedy has emerged as a sometimes spokesperson for the effort but given his many other remarkable efforts, and the scope of the issue, it’s doesn’t seem feasible.

The latest effort to enter this difficult landscape is Project Spearhead. It’s headed by labor attorney Lucas Middlebrook and MMA fighter Leslie Smith who was named the organization’s Interim President. Al Iaquinta and Kajan Johnson are also involved heavily.

What sets this effort apart from its predecessors is a clear, simple call to action – sign a union authorization and representation card before February of 2019. Project Spearhead argues that UFC fighters are either independent contractors or employees but presently only enjoy the worst of both worlds. Past efforts to organize fighters seem split over which labor designation is best. Project Spearhead, on the other hand, does not seem invested in one designation over another rather seeks to clarify the fighters legal status and will proceed from there ensure that fighters enjoy the benefits and protections from their correct labor designation.

Smith was recently released by the UFC following a failed contract negotiation precipitated by her opponent Aspen Ladd missing weight. Smith now has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board arguing that the UFC failure to re-sign her was retaliation for the organizing effort, and thus illegal. Time will tell if Smith can simultaneously advocate for her own career and the future of all fighters.