Tag: Project Spearhead

National Labor Board Could Intervene In Leslie Smith’s UFC Case

The National Labor Relations Board could quickly address Leslie Smith’s complaint against the UFC:

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Former UFC fighter Leslie Smith’s complaint she lodged with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the UFC could be quickly addressed should the national board grant her injunctive relief.

Smith’s case stems from her being released from her UFC contract after not accepting a catchweight fight with opponent Aspen Ladd after Ladd failed to make weight for their scheduled bout last month. But it’s Smith’s involvement in organizing a fighters’ union that really seems to have been the issue, making her case even stronger against the world’s leading MMA promotion.

Smith contends the UFC created a culture of fear, and the labor board will seek a temporary injunction “against (the UFC) in federal district courts to stop unfair labor practices while the case is being litigated before administrative law judges and the Board.”

Smith’s attorney Lucas Middlebrook plans on proving that Smith’s firing is just another example of the UFC’s nefarious business practices, also citing “a drop off in authorization cards being signed by fighters since Smith’s departure, a decrease in attendance at union meetings and statements made by (fellow UFC) employees showing they “fear losing their jobs.”

Middlebrook further contended via MMA Fighting:

“[UFC parent company] ZUFFA, with the termination of Ms. Smith, has delivered an unlawful message to the remainder of its fighter employees, which is: dare to form, join or assist a union and you too will accompany Ms. Smith not fighting in the UFC,”

The previously No. 9-ranked Smith happens to be heavily involved with Project Spearhead, which works to organize professional fighters. Clearly, a fighters’ union isn’t in the UFC’s best interest, so Smith’s firing seems awfully fishy considering her efforts in unionizing the sport.

UFC President Dana White was rather dismissive of Smith and her complaint to the National Labor Relations Board recently, shrugging it off entirely by saying it was “somebody else’s problem.”

The crux of Smith’s complaint is whether UFC fighters are employees or independent contractors.

If the NLRB grants Smith injunctive relief, we could have that answer sooner than later.

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Leslie Smith Plans To Sue UFC For Buying Her Out

A unique scene unfolded at last weekend’s UFC Atlantic City. When women’s bantamweight competitor Aspen Ladd missed weight by 1.8 pounds for her preliminary card bout versus Leslie Smith, Smith refused to take the fight against her overweight opponent. Certainly an acceptable response, although not one wholly seen too often in the UFC. But it was […]

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A unique scene unfolded at last weekend’s UFC Atlantic City.

When women’s bantamweight competitor Aspen Ladd missed weight by 1.8 pounds for her preliminary card bout versus Leslie Smith, Smith refused to take the fight against her overweight opponent. Certainly an acceptable response, although not one wholly seen too often in the UFC. But it was what happened when the UFC responded to Smith’s decision to not compete in what was the last fight on her UFC contract.

The world’s biggest MMA promotion decided to pay Smith her show money and win bonus for the card, totaling $62,000, and then branded her a free agent after deciding not to extend her contract. It was a strange scene full of several working parts considering Smith is the president of Project Spearhead, an effort to make the government decide if UFC fighters are employees or the independent contractors they’re currently considered.

So it wasn’t really surprising to hear the UFC had refused to extend Smith’s contract given their prior relations with labor-focused groups and individuals, but the timing of the whole situation and how it went down made it a curious one that will most likely shape a part of the inevitable labor dispute between fighters and the UFC to come.

And that scope of attention could get a lot bigger, as Smith revealed on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour that she believes the UFC tried to pay her off, and she would be taking legal action against them with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in addition to a state court in California.

In the eyes of “The Peacemaker,” what the UFC did was illegal because they created a culture of fear to dissuade other fighters from standing up for their rights:

“It’s my opinion that what the UFC did was illegal. Because they have created a situation where it encourages a climate of fear where the other people in the UFC on the roster are going to be fearful of publicly organizing and standing up for their rights.

“By creating a climate of fear, that violates federal law. That’s the whole point of the National Labor Relations Board and the laws that are in there.”

Smith also detailed that she was surprised when the UFC let her go because she thinks it will paint a clear picture of how they treat and consider fighters who attempt to stand up to them in the current climate:

“I am surprised. I think that it opens up an examination of how they feel about my activities in organizing the fighters recently. I think by doing unusual behavior, it’s going to ask what are the unusual circumstances leading to this?”

Always at the forefront for the fight for improved labor conditions for fighters, Smith also discussed why she couldn’t take the fight with Ladd after the UFC told her they would pay her the full win purse. In her opinion, she would have then been fighting for free, something fighters have simply done too much due to pride:

“I feel like if I didn’t do that at this point, it wouldn’t be living up to everything I’ve been talking about,” Smith said. “That’s why I couldn’t take the fight once they offered me the $62,000, because then I would be fighting for free. And that’s been my whole point this whole time. We shouldn’t be manipulated by pride. We need to look at ourselves as a business and fight for the large sums of money that we deserve.”

Overall Smith was just hoping that Project Spearhead would be taken seriously enough for the UFC to be concerned about it, and she believes that when they essentially paid her to leave, it became apparent they were concerned about her efforts:

“I guess in a way I guess I was almost hoping that Project Spearhead would be significant enough for them to be a little bit worried about it,” Smith said. “And then the fact that they did this unprecedented thing where they bought out my contract, so that I wouldn’t be around anymore kind of shows that they do think Project Spearhead is pretty significant.”

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Women’s Bantamweight Contender Says UFC ‘Paid Her Off’ To Go Away

When UFC women’s bantamweight Aspen Ladd missed weight at yesterday’s early weigh-ins for her match-up with Leslie Smith at tonight’s UFC Atlantic City, the bout was scratched from the event when Smith declined to accept the fight. But as we found out in the hours after the fight’s cancellation, it had a lot more consequences than […]

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When UFC women’s bantamweight Aspen Ladd missed weight at yesterday’s early weigh-ins for her match-up with Leslie Smith at tonight’s UFC Atlantic City, the bout was scratched from the event when Smith declined to accept the fight.

But as we found out in the hours after the fight’s cancellation, it had a lot more consequences than just that.

Smith admitted that she was tempted to take the fight while speaking to MMA Fighting, but that it would have been against the many values and principles she stands for as a leading voice of working towards improving fighter pay and treatment in the UFC. So while Ladd would have been forced to give her 20 percent of her purse, an amount that only added up to $2,400, Smith declined the fight after having signed an agreement with the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB) that she would receive her show money of $31,000 whether she fought or not since she had weighed in at 135.4 pounds.

She felt that taking the fight would have been purely out of pride, just the situation she believes has gotten MMA fighters into the oppressive position they currently face:

“I considered fighting Aspen anyway, purely out of pride. And another chance to showcase my skills in the Octagon. But if I had done that, it would have been purely pride. And I would have been fighting for free since I was already getting paid the money. Fighting for free out of pride is everything that I have been speaking out against. It’s not everything — there’s more to it. The manipulation of the fighters through pride was something that I felt pretty strongly about. So I’m not fighting her, because I don’t feel like I should fight for free.”

Things took a turn from there, however, when Smith revealed she told the UFC, with whom she’s had a highly-documented standoff with over her labor rights work, that she would take the fight on the condition they extend her contract after her last fight was up versus Ladd.

Instead, they chose to pay Smith her show and win money for the fight and not extend her contract:

“I figured I had some leverage in the situation,” Smith said. “I told the UFC that I would be willing to take the fight as long as they extended my contract. They did not want to extend my contract. Instead, they said they would pay me my win bonus in addition to my show money and that would fulfill the fight on my contract and they would not be extending it.”

With her involvement in the growing labor issue as the president of Project Spearhead seeking to prove if fighters are indeed independent contractors or actual employees looming over her head, she stated she feels like she was paid off:

“It feels like the UFC is paying me off to go away,” Smith said.

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