UFC responds to forming of MMAAA

During a marathon media call, Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Tim Kennedy, TJ Dillashaw, Donald Cerrone, and Bellator founder Bjorn Rebney today announced the formation of the Mixed Martial Arts Athlete Association.

They are not seeking to unionize fighters, which in their estimation would take years, as there would likely be litigation around the current independent contractor status of UFC fighters. Only employees can unionize.

Instead, they aim to form a fighter association, solely in the UFC, that would negotiate with the owners. The association will be solely run by fighters. Rebney, who reportedly spent two years on the effort, will serve in an advisory capacity. The thought of Rebney serving as a fighter advocate is disorienting, given his history. That said, the fighters were incontrovertibly well meaning.

“There aren’t sufficient adjectives to adequately describe how wrongful and outrageous the WME/IMG/UFC conglomerates’ treatment of its athletes is,” thundered Rebney. Truth is, there aren’t sufficient adjectives to adequately describe how outrageous Bjorn Rebney complaining about outrageous promoter treatment of fighters is. It’s like ebola complaining about malaria.

The MMAAA have several stated aims. Chief among them is increasing the fighter’s share of gross revenue from a reported 8% to 50%. They also will seek a benefits package similar to that enjoyed in the NBA, NFL, etc. And they want a settlement to compensate current and former UFC fighters for revenue that in the MMAAA’s eyes they rightly should have earned.

There were little specifics about how the agreement would happen, in part because they did not want to reveal strategies. There were also contradictory statements from various members of the group, with Rebney at one point saying there was no need to communicate with the UFC, and Velasquez speaking of negotiation.

The possibility of a strike was referenced, although multiple fighters said that that was not their aim. However, the new UFC owners have to realize a return on a four billion dollar investment. Simply asking for a 600% percent in salary and much more, is not likely to be successful without the threat of a strike, or something comparatively cataclysmic.

The group said an office was being established and that travel to convince fighters would commence. The group declined to say who is paying for the organizing effort.

Four of the five fighters are represented by Mike Fonseca at Creative Artists Agency. CAA is the arch rival of the new UFC owners WME-IMG. It is widely believed that Rebney has planned this two years and that at some point he got the support of CAA. However, Rebney denied that CAA is the financial backer and simply are supportive of the fighters.

The entire proceeding was lent an air of unreality by Rebney, very nearly universally reviled as a promoter, suddenly advocating so forcefully for fighters. However, he was ousted by Bellator, so if revenge was his goal, he would presumably have included his old company. Dana White repeatedly calling him Bjork seems insufficient reason for the years of effort behind today’s announcement.

When asked for a comment, the UFC was low key.

We respect all of our athletes and are always open and willing to hear their thoughts on how to improve the sport, read the statement.

So the sport now has at least three organizing efforts underway. Robert Maysey’s MMAFA wants to extend the Muhammad Ali act to MMA, so that fighters can be independent contractors, and promoters have to bid against each other for the right to put on title fights. The MMAFA is also committed to the anti-trust suit against the UFC. Jeff Borris’s PFA wants to unionize the UFC, which will require them to be classified as employees. And Bjorn Rebney’s MMAAA wants to form a players association to demand a 600% salary increase. Fighters deserve and need intelligent and aggressive organization and representation. Hopefully, some comes out of all this.