With support of major sports names, new group forms to get UFC fighters unionized

A new organization, founded by influential names in the sports world, has formed in an effort to get UFC fighters unionized.

The Professional Fighters Association (PFA) has been established with a goal to get collective bargaining for UFC athletes, it was announced Thursday in a press release. The PFA is hoping to get recognition of a fighters union through the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the release stated. And the group has the support of many of the major sports unions, like the MLPBA and NFLPA.

“PFA will not only be a union of fighters, but it will be governed solely by fighters,” the release said. “It is the fighters who will control their own futures.”

The group is being led by longtime baseball agent Jeff Borris, labor attorney Lucas Middlebrook and economist Andrew Zimbalist. Borris once represented the likes of Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco and Rickey Henderson. Middlebrook, best known in the MMA space as Nick Diaz’s lawyer, is counsel for the Major League Soccer referees union, NBA referees union and the unions for Southwest Airlines employees. Zimbalist is a highly regarded and oft-published sports …

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