Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez & More Announce MMA Athletes Association to Organize Fighters

Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, TJ Dillashaw, Donald Cerrone and Tim Kennedy joined Bjorn Rebney in announcing the formation of an organization that seeks better treatment for fighters from the UFC. MMAjunkie reports that the group announced the MMA Athletes Association on Wednesday, which will seek to organize fighters in order to secure that, as Kennedy put it, “no fighter in the UFC gets left behind.”

The association, which is not a union, will be entirely fighter-run with Rebney, the former CEO of Bellator, serving as an advisor. Kennedy said, “The fighters are running this association. Period. End of story.”

Rebney addressed the treatment of fighters by WME-IMG, the UFC’s new ownership group, and outlined several goes for the organization which include 50% share of revenue (up from a claimed 8%), a collective bargaining agreement with a benefits package comparable to other major sporting leagues and a “settlement” for current and former UFC fighters in order to make up for lost income. Rebney added that an association was the best method of standing up to the UFC and said a union would have delayed the process for four to five years.

St-Pierre added that fighters like Conor McGregor deserve a bigger share of profits and said he expected to be portrayed as a “villain” by the company for being involved, noting, “I want the situation to be rectified and I want to be happy on both sides.”

Cerrone also said he came into the group fear of retaliation by the UFC, saying, “What’s going to happen, I have no (expletive) idea. But let’s run it until the goddamn wheels come off.”

For now the association is aimed specifically at UFC fighters as opposed to Bellator or other groups and said that members could exercise their power by acting as a group to force changes in how the UFC conducts its business. Rebney said strikes could be a possibility.