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[goodtimes]

Originally Posted by KevoOnTheRadio

I think there are laws against that

Companies do it all the time. A fighters union would be great, it gives them a unified voice. But I doubt it will happen any time soon.

[snakebite]

Originally Posted by WTTM

ABSOLUTLY NOT!
unions would mean pensions, contested cuts/releases, and all the rest of the BS that comes with socialist unions.
having a fighter contest a release because he had 1 win and 2 desision losses IMO is wrong. this is a rapidly growing sport and we need to let 'winners' continue in new contracts, and not have over-the-hill, lazy, ego-inflated bums hang around whilst new up-and-comers watch on the side lines because 'Seniority trumps all'
any organization besides maybe UFC would fold cause they can't compete with inflated 'minimum salaries'
maybe UFC would fold too...GM ANYONE? maybe the government can bail out Dana

You could not be more wrong!!! Seniority does not always play a part in a union. Like i said i have been a member of a union for years. My union and alot of others do not work like you think. There is no senority other then your pay scale. Just like the ufc already is, you work/fight for your postion. If you are shitty then its simple, you wont get hired or in this case let you fight. If you are a star then of course you will be the first one to get the call. There are guys in my union that have been in for 40 years and they NEVER work because they dont do anything!! I am way younger have less time in and work ahead of all of them because i bust my ass. socialism would be everyone getting the same pay and treatment regardless of your job, IE, a brain surgeon gets paid the same as a janitor. That would never work because who the fuck would want to go to school to be a doctor or something when you could clean up trash for the same pay. As an american i know that people in the medical field dont do it to help people out of the kindness of there hearts, or else they wouldnt turn away dying people because they dont have insurance. They would still help.

[subman]

It would take 15-20 of the top fighters to agree not to fight and work to form a union. There aren't enough guys making a good living for that to happen.

The WWE tried to go union. Hulk Hogan wouldn't sign on. He was the biggest draw at the time. Without him, WWE wouldn't be hurt.

Same with UFC. Unless the top guys (and a LOT of them) decide they are willing to sacrifice big paydays for at least two years, ain't gonna happen.

Remember: to get free agency in baseball, two of the top players played ALL YEAR with no contract, then took it to court. They basically sacrificed themselves for those behind them.

Don't see it happening in a sport this young.

[optimusjoel]

If fighters every do try to form one, it will be very ugly. Could you imagine Dana White fighting against a fighters union. I think that could all be avoided if they would only raise the min. pay. 4k to show just isn't enough.

[danaloveschuck]

I think some of the professional sports have player associations instead of unions. I have no idea what the difference is. I thought Randy would try to start a union/association when he was all eager to fight Fedor, what could Dana have done, tear up his contract? And someone mentioned Hulk Hogan. I saw that TNA Wrestling just had their best ratings ever this past Monday, that's twice Hogan has turned a WWE competitor into real competition. The superstars have to be willing to make huge sacrifices. Maybe in a team sport they are, since they have real teammates, but the UFC isn't a team sport so I'm not holding my breath for a union. What non-team sport has a union? Does tennis? I don't know and I'm too lazy to google the info.

[CasualFan]

From a business angle, I would assume that the fighters are "contract labor" or something similar, not direct employees. Categorizing the fighters that way makes taxes easier for the organization, also helps to free the UFC from a lot of other paperwork. Also, rather than pooling all the "employees" together where they could congeal into a union, they remain more seperated from each other, making it easier to keep the union idea from gaining momentum as easily.

[Bizz]

In my opinion unions just cant legally make it in prize fighting. Unlike team sports where a league sets the ground rules in a common market, MMA is way too vast and has no way to provide fighters with a solid base in which they could form a union. The different organizations are all independent and can do business as they like. And I wont even mention the legal and cultural barriers you need to consider.

So the answer is no.

[UFC-chef/Hughes-fan]

Tito was actually trying to form a union years back but i bet he's changed his mind knowing that he will get paid 300k to shoot takedowns for 15 minutes.

Unions always seem like a good idea and i've heard good and bad stories about unions. to me they are too sketchy regardless of the whole point of a union in the long run the unions are going to take care of the premeire fighters over the joe shmoes. If Randy Couture and joe the new guy in the UFC go to a "fighters" union with the same problem who's going to get all of the attention. like i said they seem like a good idea but when it comes down to it how much would a union help.