According to a press release that was sent out Monday, Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, T.J Dillashaw, Donald Cerrone, Tim Kennedy and Bjorn Rebney (Founder of Bellator) all promise a “industry re-defining” announcement on Wednesday during a media conference call.
With such huge fighters all named to be involved, primarily GSP who, despite rumours to save big UFC cards recently, hasn’t fought in any MMA organisation since he relinquished his title after defeating Johnny Hendricks at UFC 167, and the fact that Rebney hasn’t spoken publicly since he let his promotion go in June of 2014, this certainly promises to be huge.
Any details about what exactly is going to be talked about and/or revealed on Wednesday is all speculation as all topics are under embargo until the call starts.
What we do know however is that the former UFC champions, GSP, Velasquez and Dillashaw are all currently represented by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), alongside Tim Kennedy and the CAA are the major rival talent agency to the new UFC owner, WME-IMG.
It’s also no secret that Cerrone and Kennedy have called out for a fighters union in the past and stand by that.
GSP’s negotiation being in complete deadlock with WME isn’t a secret either, it’s been said he likely will not agree to the Reebok deal and wont fight without his own sponsors being represented. Which I believe all fighters would agree with especially fighters on UFC undercards who arguably rely on the extra money paid by sponsors.
With all the information we do have, it seems to be pointing directly towards making a huge step towards creating a real fighters union, which has to be a good thing.
Fighters have been getting underpaid in the UFC for a long time now and the representative for Nick Diaz during his most recent suspension trial after a failed drugs test post bout with Anderson Silva, Lucas Middlebrook voiced his opinion on a union for fair treatment of fighters after getting Diaz’ unreal 5 year suspension reduced.
The conference call is scheduled for Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.
Subscribe
