Professional Fighters Association Claim The UFC Are Bullying Their Fighters
Professional Fighters Association Claim The UFC Are Bullying Their Fighters
Just a week after announcing their formation, the Professional Fighters Association last evening staged a press event in Las Vegas and invited both media an
Just a week after announcing their formation, the Professional Fighters Association last evening staged a press event in Las Vegas and invited both media and fighters to learn more about the new group and their ambitions.
The PFA were represented by Jeff Borris, Lucas Middlebrook and Callie Mendenhall. The only two active fighters in attendance were the UFC women's bantamweight Leslie Smith and Bellator heavyweight Matt Mitrione.
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The press conference began with pleasantries as Borris thanked the media for coming and for all the coverage they had provided since their launch. The mood then quickly changed as Borris went on the offensive and spoke out about a few people who had already signaled their opposition to the group and he started with UFC President Dana White.
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"There are some people that I would not like to thank and I would like to start with Dana White," Borris said. "I wanted to be professional and tell him about this press conference, I called him and invited him to it, this was before yesterday press conference [UFC 202] and one of the reporters asked the question to Dana during that press conference about this movement for unionization and he said 'I don't know anything about it'. Well, that was disingenuous at best because I'd left him a message saying I would like him to come to the press conference today."
The criticism didn't just stop at just Dana White though. Borris then went on to criticize two the new majority shareholders of the UFC and Co-CEOs of WME, Patrick Whitesell and Ari Emmanuel.
Boris then continued by outlining some of the immediate challenges the fighter community had presented to them.
"At the beginning, I believed that my job was to really educate the fighters on all of the issues," Borris said. I've been finding out I don't need to educate the fighters and the reason is because they are already know of the issues. When I talk to them they know they need all these things, they know they need all these protections.
"In actual fact, some of the fighters have educated me. What they have said to me is, one fighter said 'if we are successful getting pensions, what about the retired guys? Are they going to get a pension? Are they entitled to it?' I said I hadn't really give it any thought."
Borris then stated that problems such as that one would be discussed and voted upon by the fighters leading the union. The PFA leader then proceeded to say that the biggest challenge facing the group would be the bullying that the fighters were being subjected to by the UFC.
"Right now, I'm finding the biggest problem that I'm having is ... I'm going to use the word bullying and intimidation," Boris said. "A lot of these fighters went into the disciplines, they aren't bar room brawlers, these guys are mixed martial artists of the highest level and they know how to box, how to kick, how to fight on the ground and all these different disciplines.
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"A lot of them started because they were being bullied at school and they wanted to defend themselves as little kids. In the Octagon they are world class at defending themselves but outside of the Octagon they are getting bullied and it's almost embarrassing. The UFC know it and they are getting away with it and I think they are laughing at these fighters.
"Something has to change and I think something has to change now. All I'm asking to do is to have the fighters empower the group I have put together and to go ahead and give us the opportunity to teach these people not to be bullied. The same way they learned not to be bullied at school when they learned Judo or kickboxing or when they learned how to box and to give us that opportunity."
The PFA were represented by Jeff Borris, Lucas Middlebrook and Callie Mendenhall. The only two active fighters in attendance were the UFC women's bantamweight Leslie Smith and Bellator heavyweight Matt Mitrione.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/MMA_Jim/status/766490050704007168" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
The press conference began with pleasantries as Borris thanked the media for coming and for all the coverage they had provided since their launch. The mood then quickly changed as Borris went on the offensive and spoke out about a few people who had already signaled their opposition to the group and he started with UFC President Dana White.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/MMA_Jim/status/766465502461825024" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
"There are some people that I would not like to thank and I would like to start with Dana White," Borris said. "I wanted to be professional and tell him about this press conference, I called him and invited him to it, this was before yesterday press conference [UFC 202] and one of the reporters asked the question to Dana during that press conference about this movement for unionization and he said 'I don't know anything about it'. Well, that was disingenuous at best because I'd left him a message saying I would like him to come to the press conference today."
The criticism didn't just stop at just Dana White though. Borris then went on to criticize two the new majority shareholders of the UFC and Co-CEOs of WME, Patrick Whitesell and Ari Emmanuel.
Boris then continued by outlining some of the immediate challenges the fighter community had presented to them.
"At the beginning, I believed that my job was to really educate the fighters on all of the issues," Borris said. I've been finding out I don't need to educate the fighters and the reason is because they are already know of the issues. When I talk to them they know they need all these things, they know they need all these protections.
"In actual fact, some of the fighters have educated me. What they have said to me is, one fighter said 'if we are successful getting pensions, what about the retired guys? Are they going to get a pension? Are they entitled to it?' I said I hadn't really give it any thought."
Borris then stated that problems such as that one would be discussed and voted upon by the fighters leading the union. The PFA leader then proceeded to say that the biggest challenge facing the group would be the bullying that the fighters were being subjected to by the UFC.
"Right now, I'm finding the biggest problem that I'm having is ... I'm going to use the word bullying and intimidation," Boris said. "A lot of these fighters went into the disciplines, they aren't bar room brawlers, these guys are mixed martial artists of the highest level and they know how to box, how to kick, how to fight on the ground and all these different disciplines.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/MMA_Jim/status/766466350361354240" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
"A lot of them started because they were being bullied at school and they wanted to defend themselves as little kids. In the Octagon they are world class at defending themselves but outside of the Octagon they are getting bullied and it's almost embarrassing. The UFC know it and they are getting away with it and I think they are laughing at these fighters.
"Something has to change and I think something has to change now. All I'm asking to do is to have the fighters empower the group I have put together and to go ahead and give us the opportunity to teach these people not to be bullied. The same way they learned not to be bullied at school when they learned Judo or kickboxing or when they learned how to box and to give us that opportunity."