Pros & Cons Of The Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association

History was made Wednesday afternoon when the announcement of the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association was made public. Five fighters made up the founding group: George St. Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Tim Kennedy, T.J. Dillishaw and Donald Cerrone, plus the unlikely addition of former Bellator president Bjorn Rebney who’s taken an advisory role. This is a huge step for the sport and

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History was made Wednesday afternoon when the announcement of the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association was made public.

Five fighters made up the founding group: George St. Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Tim Kennedy, T.J. Dillishaw and Donald Cerrone, plus the unlikely addition of former Bellator president Bjorn Rebney who’s taken an advisory role. This is a huge step for the sport and all the athletes, but there are a number of challenges ahead.

Pros:

Having fighters come together like this is ground breaking for the sport as it moves forward. Here are a look at some of the ways the sport will benefit from the newly founded association Let’s take a look at the positives:

Revenue sharing: This is the biggest point and a major catalyst for founding this association. Currently, fighters receive about 8% of the UFC’s revenue, the MMAAA wants to bring that number up to 50%, which put it on par with most other professional sports. This is huge and would mean a substantial raise for fighters competing on the undercard, fighting for purses as small as $8000.
Pension: Fighters like most athletes have a small window to make money. Money that needs to support their families for a long time. The MMAAA is going to push for a fighter pension, which would help take care of fighters long after their career is finished. A move that again reflects most other professional sports organizations and it may be one of their most important victories in this whole thing.
Benefits: Currently fighters receive no compensation if they are hurt or their opponent is hurt during fight preparation and they are unable to compete on fight night. During the conference call the group addressed this, comparing it to other sports where athletes are hurt all the time and are still compensated. Making it clear this is a problem they will be addressing.
Compensation for retired fighters:The group made it clear they would seek a substantial amount of money for ex-fighters who weren’t been appropriately compensated during their career. They weren’t totally clear about how they would approach the issue, but said it would be addressed.

A fighters association can be really good for the sport, but it is by no means an instant savior and solution to all the sports issues, there is still a lot of work to do. Jump to the next page to find out the negatives of the ordeal.

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GSP: Even Conor McGregor Being Extorted By The UFC

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Following the announcement of the MMAAA (mixed martial arts athletes association) a new era in the sport has begun. After years of fighters alleging unfair treatment from the UFC, and other promotions, an alliance of fighters and well-known faces has emerged. Aiming to combat the (quote) ‘outrageous treatment’ of UFC fighters, the association is led by none other than Georges St-Pierre. The ex-UFC welterweight champion was heavily rumoured to be returning at UFC 206, but contractual disputes saw that plan disintegrate.

Ironically this beef with the UFC may well have finalised St-Pierre’s place on the MMAAA, although we may never know for sure. Joined by the likes of Donald Cerrone, former champions Cain Velasquez & TJ Dillashaw, Tim Kennedy and ex-Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, the association certainly has a lot of sway. Will it be enough to combat the might of the UFC, though? That remains to be seen.

Power In Numbers

Speaking during the conference call for the MMAAA, ‘GSP’ raised some very interesting points. Claiming every fighter he’d met during his illustrious career shared the same story, St-Pierre said it’s time for a change.

“I’m here to talk about these problems, to make this situation better. Maybe to the UFC I’ll be seen like a villain, like when I came out with the PED problem. I want everybody to be happy, on both sides. I’m one of the rare fighters who came out and is healthy and wealthy now days. I can’t say that about most fighters these days. Most sports it’s 50-50 for the athletes and promoters. We have around 8%. It’s not fair to the UFC top contestants, even to Conor McGregor, who doesn’t have his fair share of what he should have. I’m not born with a silver spoon, I’m a real fighter, I worked three jobs, went to school and trained to fight. My first fight, I received 3K/3K from the UFC.”

“Travelling from gym-to-gym, with different partners from different backgrounds, it’s the same problems always mentioned. We are here today to take a stand, and fight for all the fighters who have the same problems. Fighters are being bullied and intimidated, scared to retire or not fight again, fighters who are being left broken, with brain injuries and physical trauma. There’s no insurance or care. I personally met fighters in the beginning of their career, and they are not the same person at the end of their career. This, for me, is unacceptable. UFC without fighters is only three letters of the alphabet. It’s time for us to make our voice heard, and make a change happen for the fighters.”

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UFC Reacts To Formation Of MMA Athletes Association

Earlier this week it was reported that a ‘redefining’ announcement would be made today (Nov. 30, 2016) by a group of fighters led by former longtime UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and former Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. Speculation immediately turned to the idea that the group, which consists of St. Pierre as well as

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Speculation immediately turned to the idea that the group, which consists of St. Pierre as well as Tim Kennedy, TJ Dillashaw, Donald Cerrone, and Cain Velasquez, would be forming a fighters’ union, and while they haven’t necessarily done that, they have indeed formed what they called the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association (MMAAA).

The group, which will focus solely on UFC fighters for the time being, will aim to improve conditions and pay for not only current fighters, but former fighters and future fighters as well.

Oddly enough, the board didn’t release many details regarding their plans, but the UFC reacted to the news nonetheless (Via MMAFighting):

“We respect all of our athletes and are always open and willing to hear their thoughts on how to improve the sport,” a UFC official said.

Rebney, who will serve as an advisor to the group, said during a conference call earlier today that the members have yet to reach out to the UFC and that they don’t plan to at this time.

Stay tuned to LowKickMMA as more news on the situation unfolds.

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MMA Athletes Association Officially Announces Formation on Conference Call

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yia7p-RhnPc&t=4s

To kick off a conference call that apparently has over 100 media members on the line, UFC middleweight contender Tim Kennedy officially announced the formations of a union/fighters’ association for MMA Fighters, the MMA Athletes’ Association. Attorney Jim Quinn was announced as the head of their legal team, with Kennedy remarking that he’s the best there is in the field of athletes’ associations. Quinn is also the lawyer for Georges St-Pierre, who was also on the call and spoke of how while he got out of the sport rich and relatively healthy, he’s in the minority.

The call is still ongoing as this post goes up, and we’ll have more updates later. As previously announced, Kennedy, St-Pierre, T.J. Dillashaw, and Cain Velasquez are the fighters on the call, joined by Bellator MMA founder Bjorn Rebney.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yia7p-RhnPc&t=4s

Bjorn Rebney Owns Domain Names For ‘MMA Athletes Association’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z05OQMZjBb4

When it was announced on Monday that former Bellator MMA frontman Bjorn Rebney would join some disgruntled big name UFC fighters for an “industry redefining announcement” on Wednesday, November 30th, the consensus was they were unveiling a fighters’ union. Late Tuesday, Deadspin’s Kevin Draper found the definitive proof: Rebney owns multiple domain names for a “MMA Athletes Association,” and while most are inactive, one, TheMMAAA.com, has a login screen and a logo for the Association.

While most of the domains were registered in October 2015, TheMMAAA.com was registered this past August. According to the WHOIS record for the domain, Rebney registered it using GoDaddy, which charges an extra $7.99 per year for private registration instead of bundling it like some of its competitors (Hover, for example) do. While it’s possible it was an oversight, it’s strange to see the secrecy of an “industry redefining announcement” broken by an inability to spend 67 cents per month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z05OQMZjBb4