Jeff Borris is the counsel for the Ballengee Group, the agency that represents Nate Diaz. The longtime baseball agent took a look at Diaz's contract for the fight withConor McGregor at UFC 196 in March and could not believe what he saw.
"They're baffling when you read them," Borris said of UFC contracts on Monday's episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. "It's just preposterous the things that are in there that I don't believe are legal, valid or enforceable. I even believe the UFC knows that."
Soon after, Borris said he and Diaz's agent Lloyd Pierson met with UFC president Dana White and other UFC execs. Borris said he asked White why fighters have yet to unionize and White "kind of scoffed at the idea."
"I walked out of the meeting and I turned to Lloyd and I told him, ‘I'm gonna unionize these guys,'" Borris said.
One of the biggest issues facing a union is the fact that UFC fighters are currently considered independent contractors. A court would need to consider them employees before a union certified under the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) would be a possibility. Borris thinks that would be a slam dunk.
"They already are employees and I'll tell you why," Borris said. "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. You know what it takes to train for a fight?"
Borris said he has spoken to many fighters already and every single one of them is at least interested. He even put his personal phone number on the PFA website so he can speak with fighters directly. The typical response when speaking to fighters, Borris said, was that they don't want to upset the UFC and face retaliation if they support a union.
"My batting average is 1.000," Borris said. "Every single one of them that I talked to wants this. There is one common theme, though, and that common theme is a lot of them are fearful of the UFC, that they're going to retaliate against them. What's funny is inside the Octagon, they're courageous, they show no fear. But outside the Octagon, in the business arena, they're scared. I'm trying to tell them, ‘Listen, there are rules in this country preventing employers from preventing employees from organization. Don't worry, they're not going to retaliate.'
"I don't know what the UFC has done to bully or instill this fear in fighters, but they've done a good job."
Sports agent Jeff Borris explains why he’s attempting to start a UFC fighters union
