For quite some time now there’s been rumblings of the need for MMA fighters to band together and gather under the banner of a single entity in order to protect themselves from any potential injustice that may arise from their futures being in the hands of their promoter, and create a “fighter’s union”. In the case of a fighter’s union, athletes would have a body to represent them in the case of an unfair treatment from their bosses, such as being unjustly released from a promotion or being forced into taking a substantial pay cut.
In other words forming a union would allow fighters the benefits that come with not being an individual, but an organization when attempting to combat being treated unfairly. In the current MMA landscape that sees fighters regularly butting head with their employers, the most highly publicized cases of this taking place within the industry leading UFC, due in large part to the ferocious temper of frontman Dana White.
A fighter’s union could provide a safety net for fighters who may otherwise feel too threatened to speak out on issues important to then.
In all of the time that a mythical fighter’s union has been proposed, there has never been a period that the benefits that would come with the union for fighters has been as abundantly clear. The best example in recent months? The Reebok deal.
Probably the most controversial story to hit the MMA media this year, the UFC signed an exclusive sponsorship deal with apparel brand that saw the long-standing independent sponsorship model ousted, and fighters forced to wear Reebok to the cage. The general response to the deal from fans and fighters alike was negative, with the pay scale causing many fighters to earn significantly less than they were with their previous sponsorship arrangements.
The fighters were simply told that this was the way things were going to be moving forward, had a union been in place, fighters potentially could have had a voice in the matter, however this was not the case and present day fighters simply have to accept major shifts such as these and those who dare to speak out face significant potential backlash.
The introduction of the Reebok deal was justified by the UFC as an attempt to “legitimise” the sport by offering a cleaner look. Dana White has frequently compared the UFC to other mainstream sporting leagues such as the NBA, stating that their athletes have never been able to wear private sponsors during games. While this is true, the athletes of the NBA are representative of their team, which is a major brand and involves huge endorsements, as well as the brands sponsoring the sport as a whole. In addition to this, athletes of team sports have a much higher base pay due to being paid a salary for the season, whereas MMA fighter have an unpredictable and much less frequent competitive schedule.
In order to draw accurate parallels between MMA and other major sports, the best method is to look at not team sports, but those with individual competitors. These sports, such as Tennis, Cycling and so forth all offer athletes the opportunity to gather persona sponsorships, demonstrating that without the backing of a major team, it is simply the best model for optimal financial opportunities.
Potentially the best sport to compare MMA to in this sense is fellow combat sport Boxing. Never in the sports history has a uniform sponsorship model been proposed, largely due to the many sanctioning bodies creating a far less monopolistic feel than what has been built by the UFC. Boxers are entitled to endorsements for shorts, shoes, gloves and more, and despite the rapid rise of MMA, the highest paid athletes in combat sport remain well short of the upper echelon of boxing.
The UFC as a company opted to remain silent on the topic of a potential fighters union for the most part, however, in a new and important element to the developing story, UFC chief legal officer Kirk Hendricks recently sent all contracted athletes an email warning them against attempting to sign onto a union, calling the practice “shameful and pathetic”. This is a significant moment for development of the union as it confirms what many of us already knew – the UFC don’t want their fighters in a union.
Now, to be fair to Hendricks, this particular email is not the best example of the UFC interacting with the potential union, as it serves as a response to a statement released by the Las Vegas Culinary Workers Union, stating they wished to “organize MMA fighters”. As a group the culinary union do not have MMA fighter wellbeing as their top priority, and rather seek any outlet possible to put pressure on the Fertitta brothers to involve their Station Casinos establishments in the culinary union, and generally attack the UFC in the hopes of having their demands met.
That being said, its worth considering that the first formal response from the UFC to the proposition of a fighters union is a warning against them joining. The email goes on to remind the fighters that they are “independent contractors” rather than employees and therefore cannot form a union.
A recurring theme on the UFC’s part is to remind the fighters of their independent contract status when it suits them, for example how can UFC fighters be considered independent contractors in the sense that they aren’t legally allowed to form a union, but then tell them they can’t gather their own sponsors for extra revenue? Having the fighters wear a uniform (Call it a “fight kit” all you want, it’s a uniform) strongly pushes the boundaries of what it is to be an independent contractor , and pushes the need for something like a fighters union.
If you were to head to the UFC website in the hopes of picking up some Reebok merchandise bearing the name Brendan Schaub or Tim Kennedy, you’d be out of luck.
Schaub and Kennedy are a pair of fighters who made no effort to hide the fact that they were unhappy with the new Reebok arrangement, the fighters demonstrate that by airing these frustrations and attempting to fight back against the deal, or potentially instigate change will fall on deaf ears, and risk your position in the UFC’s merchandise plans altogether, as well as securing a spot on Dana White’s bad side.
The call so far is for a “fighter’s” union, but if recent events have told us anything the need for a union stretches beyond just the fighters. Veteran UFC cutman Jacob “Stitch” Duran commented on the fact that Reebok deal has taken away all sponsorship opportunities altogether.This was enough to see his employment with the UFC terminated altogether, this is an example of the attitude of UFC executives to anyone who speaks out against their treatment in the organisation, and a union may be the only way to give some power to those contracted by the UFC, so that they’re futures are no longer entirely in the hands of the heads of the UFC.
An interesting comparison to Duran, Schaub and Kenndy’s situation can be found elsewhere in the sporting world, earlier this year the Golf Caddies Association made headlines as they were unhappy with the idea that caddies were forced to appear on-screen wearing PGA tournament logo’s rather than corporate sponsors.
These complaints are worth upwards of $50 Million, and demonstrates that if those involved in a high-profile sporting league can resist conditions they find unfair. Golf Caddies are necessary contributors to the sport of golf, but are fixtures of the background, and belong to an organisation that can let them be heard if they fee they’re being treated unfairly, whereas the UFC’s headline attractions are forced into silence by fear of risking their jobs by speaking out? Something is wrong here.
The UFC is currently bringing MMA into a new era, one that is taking the sport to heights that as little as a decade ago few could have imagined. However, sooner rather than later UFC executives need to realize the athletes are their greatest asset, and that attempting to silence them when they are looking to speak out for the benefit of themselves, and therefore the sport, is a sure-fire way to waste all of the progress the sport has made thus far.
Whether the fighter’s union ever comes to fruition is still up in the air, but it is becoming painfully clear that the modern fighter needs a voice, and a union could be the best way to give themselves one.
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