SBJ: Project Spearhead sign-ups stalled

[FrankieNYC]

From Meltzers newsletter:
Sports Business Journal reported that Project Spearhead, which was the group headed by Leslie Smith to unionize fighters saw fighter sign-ups drastically slow down since she was let go by UFC.

I missed the SBJ report on this.
Sad that fighters don't even care enough to look into it.
They could still vote against a union once they get more info.

 

[Toco]

these fighters making 10/10 should never complain about money again. the opportunity is there, if you don't want to take it......

 

[JeffDredd]

these fighters making 10/10 should never complain about money again. the opportunity is there, if you don't want to take it......

They're too scared of the UFC retribution but I don't disagree.

 

[FrankieNYC]

these fighters making 10/10 should never complain about money again. the opportunity is there, if you don't want to take it......

Most prelim guys I talked to, don't complain
its the fighters taking the next step that do

the prelim guys go from making $1k with no insurance & selling tix to a guaranteed 3 fights, insurance & $3.5k per (Reebok)

Its the middling fighters that are the ones that I think deserve the biggest raise.

they are not stars but workhorses & even if they don't draw by name, they are still the product on the prelims that UFC makes money on

As someone in a different thread mentioned, it mirrors real life with the middle class getting it the worst

 

[Quietus]

UFC sunk them by rewarding guys if they back away from the union talks, and firing the ones who wouldn't like Leslie. remember Cowboy, TJ, etc were involved but they haven't said a word about it in a while? Its pretty clear UFC wants to keep things the way they are so they only have to pay big money to a handful of fighters, the rest make peanuts and UFC keeps 90% of the revenue to themselves.

Fighters accept it because of that crab bucket mentality, they're willing to pull eachother down and keep things this way just for that slim chance that they could become the next Conor and be the one guy getting paid.

 

[gimp0]

There is so much money they lost from that 1.5 Billion dollar ESPN deal. Do they even get a percentage of the merch or ticket sales from events?

All they have to do is stand together and UFC will have no choice.

 

[Goatenstein]

Get a real job Leslie. You chose to be a pro athlete and any idiot knows all these union attempts fail pathetically. What happened to Rebney's lame group?

 

[Deleted member 429453]

I hope the union succeeds
Leslie has some integrity unlike the cowards who backed down

 

[Anaconda99]

Its not that they dont care, they all want more money, security and all that good stuff but they are fighters, they know how to fight, they are not a bunch of suits who work in a office, well most of them. Its just not their strength to organize any of it as fighters are so dependend on their coaches and people around them, it almost has to be a coach to launch something like this, because when a fighter is done fighting he wont care anymore, fighters want to do it for themselves which is logical. Fans on here scream most about unions but i ask myself if they wil be for it when MMA becomes boxing and it takes ages to make fights happen, im all for them having more money its a grueling sport but with that comes more say on everything which will stall fights.

 

[FrankieNYC]

Its not that they dont care, they all want more money, security and all that good stuff but they are fighters, they know how to fight, they are not a bunch of suits who work in a office, well most of them. Its just not their strength to organize any of it as fighters are so dependend on their coaches and people around them, it almost has to be a coach to launch something like this, because when a fighter is done fighting he wont care anymore, fighters want to do it for themselves which is logical. Fans on here scream most about unions but i ask myself if they wil be for it when MMA becomes boxing and it takes ages to make fights happen, im all for them having more money its a grueling sport but with that comes more say on everything which will stall fights.

Here is the thing
This is not a union vote
It is an attempt to get 30% to sign a card to see if they can unionize & then vote

It is idiotic, not to look at all the options available.

 

[Anaconda99]

Here is the thing
This is not a union vote
It is an attempt to get 30% to sign a card to see if they can unionize & then vote

It is idiotic, not to look at all the options available.

Which is hard to do because you either make decent money and dont have to risk it, or your down the cards and dont want to risk it. 1 fighter already got cut, sure they said its because her contract is up but its very unusual to cut someone, give them their money without fighting because they dont take a fight where a fighter misses weight. I think fighters know the options they probably dont trust the process and think its not worth getting cut and all of a sudden you dont even make half outside the UFC. The UFC holds all the cards, and now that UFC has over 600 fighters or whatever number it is, people are more replaceable than ever, there are so many fighters you wouldnt even notice when a good chunk is cut unless its reported. Every event we will have 2 to sometimes 6 newcomers hungry and wanting to climb the ladder and willing to replace the mainstay, i really dont see how this gets done without the help of the UFC which will never happen.

 

[JeffDredd]

Get a real job Leslie. You chose to be a pro athlete and any idiot knows all these union attempts fail pathetically. What happened to Rebney's lame group?

I'll never understand people like you.

 

[FrankieNYC]

Which is hard to do because you either make decent money and dont have to risk it, or your down the cards and dont want to risk it. 1 fighter already got cut, sure they said its because her contract is up but its very unusual to cut someone, give them their money without fighting because they dont take a fight where a fighter misses weight. I think fighters know the options they probably dont trust the process and think its not worth getting cut and all of a sudden you dont even make half outside the UFC. The UFC holds all the cards, and now that UFC has over 600 fighters or whatever number it is, people are more replaceable than ever, there are so many fighters you wouldnt even notice when a good chunk is cut unless its reported. Every event we will have 2 to sometimes 6 newcomers hungry and wanting to climb the ladder and willing to replace the mainstay, i really dont see how this gets done without the help of the UFC which will never happen.

I get that, but ...
The cards that very few are signing are ANON.
They are only to see if 30% are interested enough.

No argument can be made for fighters not to sign it.

I'm not pro or ante union.
I'm PRO INFO

 

[Anaconda99]

I get that, but ...
The cards that very few are signing are ANON.
They are only to see if 30% are interested enough.

No argument can be made for fighters not to sign it.

I'm not pro or ante union.
I'm PRO INFO

What is anon? What happens if they get 30 percent?
I lean tords no union as i feel like it will stall everything but i am for better fighter pay definetly.

 

[FrankieNYC]

What is anon? What happens if they get 30 percent?
I lean tords no union as i feel like it will stall everything but i am for better fighter pay definetly.

Anon - anonymous
If they get 30% signed card, they can go to the labor review board to see if they are IC's or employees
If they are employees, they can then get the process to unionize
But they would need a lot more than 30% to do it.

 

[Rvd Slmr]

A union would be a good thing, I just don't think Smith is the right person to lead the way. The whole "treat me like an employee when I'm pretty obviously a contractor" doesn't help making it look legit.

 

[Anaconda99]

Anon - anonymous
If they get 30% signed card, they can go to the labor review board to see if they are IC's or employees
If they are employees, they can then get the process to unionize
But they would need a lot more than 30% to do it.

But dont you think that there could be some risk to it, if it doesnt work UFC could cut those 30 percent which will almost all be under to midcard guys and just sign new ones?

 

[notori0us1]

 

[FrankieNYC]

But dont you think that there could be some risk to it, if it doesnt work UFC could cut those 30 percent which will almost all be under to midcard guys and just sign new ones?

They don't have access to who signs or not

Al is part of Spearhead & was in a title fight with Khabib
Cain & Cowboy (along with GSP) tried to unionize & there were no issues.

Leslie was voicing about how unfair UFC was for 3 years & she even said that UFC was fair to her.
It was after she refused to take a last minute fight unless they gave her a ridiculous new contract that she was cut.

I also want to add that a lot of people soured on Smith after she started a GO FUND ME for lawyer fees to fight UFC after she was let go.

 

[dim_]

I think the fact that Leslie couldnt even organise herself and ended up screwing herself out of her own contract had an impact.

Would you want someone like that representing you?