On Monday former two-time welterweight world champion and GOAT short-list candidate Georges St-Pierre caused a major ruckus when he announced on The MMA Hour that he was a free agent no longer bound by his UFC contract. Fans and even journalists were shocked into accepting the all-time great’s interpretation of his situations and talk quickly turned to where the TriStar fighter would compete, next, once he came out of retirement and found his post-UFC home.
Of course, the UFC soon released their own statement, completely contradicting St-Pierre’s assertion that he was free to compete in MMA outside of the UFC, now. For keen observers and knowing students of MMA history, it was less of a development than an obvious eventuality.
St-Pierre was not announcing an actual and closed resolution with the UFC to Ariel Helwani – he was getting out front and attempting to frame a story. That story is likely a coming legal battle with the UFC.
Too many observers were quick to wonder who and where the legend would fight, next, after his assertion. In fact, he made clear who his next opponent is going to be – the UFC itself.
The battle will probably take place through legal briefs, in negotiating or arbitration rooms and courtrooms.
The situation is immediately reminiscent of Randy Couture’s retirement situation back in 2008. Back then, the reigning heavyweight champ thought that faxing retirement papers to the UFC would eventually free him to leave the promotion so he could fight former Pride champ Fedor Emelianenko, after the UFC failed to sign the Russian.
The UFC’s lawyers didn’t agree with Couture’s and The Natural didn’t win that legal battle. There would seem to be some important apparent differences between Couture’s and St-Pierre’s situations, however.
Unlike Couture, St-Pierre isn’t likely trying to actually leave the UFC and fight elsewhere – he’s probably just trying to get certain terms adjusted. St-Pierre is also one of the few MMA fighters in history who probably has the money to actually mount a real, sustained, legal battle.
He also seems pretty motivated by agitation from years of UFC president Dana White throwing shade at him. Also, the UFC could really use a willing and eager Georges St-Pierre right now, simply because he’s a giant draw – one of the best in the company’s history.
St-Pierre has pointedly mentioned the exclusive Reebok Deal as an obstacle to his returning to the UFC. The international star is an Under Armour spokesman, and he’s implied that he’d lose out on the money from that contract if he were forced to wear competitor Reebok during fight weeks and on fight night.
Whatever is in St-Pierre’s UFC contract, it certainly doesn’t name Reebok by name and attach specific duties related to wearing their gear. The fighter likely believes that means that he shouldn’t be bound to the Reebok terms fighters, as a group, didn’t have any part in negotiating, and which were created after he signed his last deal with the promotion.
The UFC likely believes that whatever language they have in GSP’s last contract can be interpreted as requiring him to abide by any not specifically mentioned and even future contracts they as a promotion and company should enter into, including with Reebok.
If both sides remain resolute in their stances and willing to fight for their positions, the situation may end up needing a third party to come in and interpret everything. At the heart of it all may be what a company can require of workers they classify as independent contractors who don’t have the benefit of collective bargaining.
For now, it doesn’t really seem to talk about where and who GSP may fight, next, in the ring (I personally would love to either see him come to terms with the UFC, or start his own independent promotion which could hold one or two events a year that he headlines). Georges has got a fight coming, if he continues to stand up for himself, but it could end up being a long, expensive one, fought mostly with paperwork and in court.
If that does happen, things could get surprisingly unpredictable. The UFC has won a lot of legal battles over the years, specifically pertaining to exclusive rights to promote fighters. However, they’ve also lost some notable ones as well, including recently with former world champion Quinton Rampage Jackson, who was forced to go back to Bellator despite he and the UFC believing that the rival promotion’s parent company, Viacom, had breached and invalidated the fighter’s Bellator contract.
One judge agreed with them long enough for Jackson to fight in the UFC, at UFC 186, but eventually another one decided he needed to go back to Bellator. If St-Pierre and the UFC push forward and end up embroiled in lawsuits as was the case with Couture, there’s a host of interesting new issues which could end up being discussed and decided on.
From the temporality of certain UFC contracts possibly affecting which athletes are or are not bound to adhere strictly to the Reebok uniform policies, to whether or not UFC athletes are independent contractors or if they are entitled to employee status, to issues of how UFC policies and contracts themselves are put together and enforced, overall – there’s a lot potentially wrapped up in St-Pierre vs. UFC. Dig in, fans, because it may be the only fight we see GSP in, for some time.
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About the author:
Elias Cepeda has served as a writer and editor covering mixed martial arts and combat sports, as well as public and cultural affairs, since 2005. He began as a staff writer for InsideFighting, and not long thereafter became publisher and editor of the page. Cepeda then went to write for Yahoo! Sports’ boxing and MMA pages, and edited their Cagewriter blog. He was hired away by FOX Sports, but after several years departed over philosophical differences with the executive leadership around important issues of journalism ethics. A student of and sometime competitor in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA since 1999, Elias brings a unique and vibrant presence to reporting, and enjoys trying to highlight shared humanity and connect common experiences from seemingly different worlds.
We are honored to announce that Elias will be writing a weekly column for The UnderGround.
