http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcon...hat-inspired-new-fighters-union/#3e6325747eb5 In shrewdly negotiating a new deal for his rematch with Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz became a poster boy for standing up to the almighty UFC. Interestingly, Diaz’s first contract to fight McGregor galvanized a plan to have fellow UFC fighters follow in his footsteps. On Monday’s The MMA Hour podcast with Ariel Helwani, noted MLB agent Jeff Borris broke his silence four days after introducing the Professional Fighters Association in a press release, speaking at length about his plans to unionize UFC fighters. His original motivation, as it turns out, was Diaz’s deal to fight at UFC 196 — one that, in his opinion, was filled with inequities. “I had never looked at a UFC contract before; I had never even given it any thought,” said Borris, who was working solely on baseball cases for Diaz’s management team, the Ballengee Group, before the Diaz vs. McGregor paperwork fell into his lap. It was only then that the wheels began to turn. “Lloyd Pierson (Diaz’s agent) had just done the first bout agreement with McGregor-Diaz, and he came up to me and he said: ‘Would you take a look at the bout agreement and the promotional agreement?’ … I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I said, ‘This isn’t valid. This isn’t enforceable. This won’t fly. This has to be changed.’ And he said, ‘This is the way, how the UFC does their business.’” After seeing all of the issues with Diaz’s deal, Borris said he accompanied Pierson and co. to the UFC’s headquarters in Las Vegas, where they met with UFC president Dana White and then-UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta. When Borris asked why fighters had not yet unionized, and was told it was because they were independent contractors, he knew he had to take action. “They already are employees, and I’ll tell you why. The UFC is the boss. They tell them where to fight, when to fight, what to wear then they fight. They’re employees, and they’re full-time employees.” Borris’ quest to bring the PFA into being will begin at Las Vegas this week during the lead-up to UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor II. There, he says he will talk to as many fighters as possible with the hope of getting them to sign authorization cards for the election of a union. Two fighters Borris can likely count on for support are Nate and Nick Diaz — the Ballengee Group’s most prominent MMA clients. Nick’s attorney in his well-publicized case against the Nevada State Athletic Commission was Lucas Middlebrook, another PFA leader. As far as where does the remainder of the UFC’s roster stands, Borris said that every UFC fighter that has reached out to him is in favor of unionizing, and that one of them might even join him at the podium for PFA’s introductory press conference on Thursday. If you’re interested in learning more about the PFA, MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi has the full recap of Borris’ conversation with Helwani. You can also visit the PFA’s official website.
Good, and I'm glad it was Nate's ppl that did it, him and Nick have always called it like they see it and given us more insight than most on how much bullshit goes on behind the scenes.
Watching the interview with Borris right now So not only did Nate derail the UFC's hype train for its biggest cash earner ever, he also may be the catalyst for the fighters unionizing and finally getting their fair due of the profits LOL who saw that coming Wonder if Dana wishes they'd a gone with Frankie instead
This is coming at the perfect time. Before now the UFC had to use a lot of their revenue to put back into the brand. They have a world wide brand and recognition with a lot of money. It is time to start getting closer to matching the NFL's athlete pay to company revenue ration. Which I believe is the athletes get paid 49% of the NFL's revenue.
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d6CUNAIchKx+f0b3588kaEm0xwFtOxcb9d+fkYK1tnX58kFhyA7URrpiW52QyiNyeweaw26CGouzVc6+uDHujkG1C+xc3e0/XZ1olxugWOTCo5DtPnEZP0S1xIztqBZb4+sd/AfE8P4ogg7Ubs2PGjh+h6lbwdZy5f6eX9EepcOhbG6J1S17HZhpa4bDvrNNsuzeo0GFwxF7vhDDtRujtZ30iM9OpdnAFxttuK+6Z7lKlgFO0TSC8rs4ozuG6R/wCgRyOlg22SPnY/YbZrdl1rjQnLOyxVWFwyOL31l3E5nYd5adSDmp5HPJc4lzibkneUQwFl+P6oHe9q3twSn31P+R3kttBhtPEJLVLTxkZZ811xcgk6dSI5B4W7Da4NBimBdE7vYfrs6+cb0cGAUp1q+5vmFF2BUo/4kHta73BNAHE6B0Ts82kXa4aPbuISXSfBqdsErHTh7dkuY3ZcNl4B+aTuOWSSsHMNlblkNAma5u8LRHC02y3D3K+GBtiLdeayMbXs5u8IpwXwU19UyljcyMua9225pcAGgZWBGt+dYuJbc5di6z0SsAxeEDo5vc1WALwk4OyUdaKDKomcI+L2G7G055IDbEm2mt9F1p9DtZxd+PpuNtfitl1uzjL/AI7KI44wHhZTX+ow90NQR+IC7tv76d/QM/8AkSLWDxzgl6Op65s7i9lM6CUwvjkjLztNa1xNw4C3K61xzJBqQMiRplkbE/gvo7gcPl8V/rP/AK8K+dIIxe/8zvzFShi9vN+Ci17eZEX07c8gssVODl1rIr228ygZBzLS+nbbLrV0kDbfNHainwmsDTbtsuio6rkG5XKtiA2SNxR6Ju2xrb2N9RrbPJcu567fnVFdOOLf1nJUYfLYg86txaJrGhgN755911ghZkB7fxUk8W30bluSHD6Rtb8bhc7WyXe4kbz5LpaZ5IaebIZDmsUHracbb7jMPd71ePqfp8CSW8ybaHMtVRALpU8I5r9q6uDMXDmTXatk8DbaZ33KmWEIKdocyW23mCuNOCrhTtOdlRjDm8yYuHMr44Ab3WlkIsMggGm1ky0OhAv2H3JKwaoBkOwKbhqOxNG3kt7B7lItsT2BZE9hdH6L5Q3F4S4gDipsybC9m7yue5lQ6AOI2mgjrF/erB7Fw4o6WmrYcadUEmN8Ubo27LhsHajc7LlEgSE2HMulFXSfCDifwyHiTTCK+222UjpNrav/ADWt1L53ZQs2rhjR2ADuU46OPaJ4ttweYK/0PbPRpjsNScRna8NZJWOLds7JLeJiaHWOYva68n4bYCygqxBFMZmGFs20dnJzpJGlvJ3ckHPPNCqmmY52bGk23gKoQNbfZaB2Cylqtl7j2Kql0SjfyL9SakGSgeXT2qTzkBzlNPokfohA0bbm3X710NNSEZEHIndrzG6ANbZw7V1MdU4sDSdBZc+66/nAHGoy1+fsWJptY/69qNY4/aaCdQbIK7Qdv6Jz8OvKPYC4bYDtDf2XFwqsVY299+YPXzLPh82bT1WWrEm6nqHvWd9bzwDqBYqphs4Kyp1CpOoXZ56uq3ZW5yFRKc/YrJjoqnnVETZoptzGqaIZJM09iCuA5laGaLIw59q2Nbkgyyb+w+5JM7f2H3JLUG+n+a3sHuCUjN901MTst7B7gk998jksqmdFXG67s9wScbiw0TNyv+CCyFIDldoTtHMoEm/MdEDH5xUXNV0EWeaUrxogyQHkuCtpBkmDLXTRZBBdMEzBldVSS2zvmpwOuNUE5AN/ajlK4FoQSXS/+rIrg5DmG25c+46/nfWHFnEv2ea3+6x25PtC34h89+W/yWEO5P8ArnV5+M931bRvs4j2+1FsQPyRPV70EjOhG4oziIvB3LPU9a5vlBJc7KibQK0nIKLm3XRypPOiodvVx0tqq2svdVE4gkw5d6enGXWFJjdUFBbax61oabqmQFWXsL3QUHf9kpKZGR+yfcktQGKXC5yxpEL7FoI0zFtRmnfhNQRbiZO4ea7rCf2EX3bPyBabrLWPPW4ROP4D+7+6rOD1F78TIefIea9HumuhjzoYZODlBJbsHmpOwyYnOCTtt/deh3Suhjzt2HT7oJL89tPxzTtwqYW+Sk8K9ECa6GPOZcKn04mS282GZ79FFmCzdDL3f3XpCSGPNn4RPawhlPsSbhVQP4MncvSC3t702x1nvKGPPm4dUdBJ3DzV+F00sbjtRuaDzjrXcmPrd3qqWDatzDn3qWavPlcVX0Mpe4tje4X+iLhYDhVRf9i+32SvRIKctvfS+4q7i+3vKSHXrzj1ZMB+ykA+yedGDSudGG/y/rddcYxbf3qiOiA3C1rW396ljXNx57Nhk2gikOf1ckhh0wGcMnhXpTRkpWAWmMeYHDJyf2L/AAlO3DJhlxMnhXpxSRMeaerpeikH+Aqo0Mt/mOv9h3kvUErIY8qnoZXaRvH+E+SQo5TYcW+32XeS9VsmshjyuWjlAceKeBsn6J0SXpOKj5CXL+G/8pSWoY86j4Q1TWhomcA0AAcnIAWAvZSHCOr6Z/c3yQFOExNHvjHV9M/uZ5JDhJV9O7ub+rUASTDR74yVY/jO7m+Sb4zVXTO7m+SBlRTDR8cKKrpnH/C3yTjhRVdM7uF/cufSTDR/4yVXTv7gm+MVWP47/wAECSTDR08JKrpn9w8k3xlqunf3N8kDTJho8OE9UP4zu5vknHCip6V3cP8AZAAnTDR34x1WvHP7h5JO4RVfTP8Aw8kCTpgNfGKqv+2f+Hkp/GKr6Z/4eSAlOEw0dPCOr6d/+XyUfX9UdJ5e/wDsgacJho0OENUP48nfdL4x1XTv/DyQQpkw0ebwnqh/Gee0DyU28KqrpT27Lb+5c8Ekw10B4TVR/jOH+Fvkl8ZavpndzfJAEimA3NwiqnNc0zOIIIIs3MEZjTmSQROrIP/Z
"Fallow" him on instagram. He's not book smart. But he's street smart and business smart. Guy has a nice life now. It might have taken a while but when the going was good he made them give him excellent
I've been saying it on here for years that there were aspects of the UFC contract that made it arguable as to whether they would be classified as employees or independent contractors and that a fighter would need to take action legally for a judge to rule on it, but Sherdoggers kept saying they were independent contractors and there was no argument against it.....tisk tisk
Nate is not stupid at all. He talks like he is stoned I think is more of a gimmick type act than anything else. If you read the script of the things he says and not listen to it he actually sounds like one of the more intelligent fighters out there. I am rooting for Conor just becasue I think him winning is better for the sport But I alos really like Nate.
