Though the attempts thus far have been unsuccessful, many are still optimistic about a fighters' union in MMA. Kevin Lee is no different.
Appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show, Lee tackled the topic and explained his own belief that it'll eventually come to fruition. “I think it’s inevitable,” he said. “Eventually it’s gonna happen. I think it’s once the UFC - the UFC is gonna change a little bit, I feel like. It’s the same way I’m looking at the way Facebook has been doing stuff and all these other companies, these large private companies but they’re so big.
“The UFC is a sports organization but it’s so big now to where it’s damn near public. Once that kind of changes and once they open up the books and people really start to pay attention to it, then maybe somebody on the outside who is way smarter than anyone of us - because we’re fighting, we ain’t really worried about the legalities of it. I’m just signing a contract, I don’t really give a f*ck. But once somebody who is smarter kind of takes a look at it and sees what’s going on and how it is, then they’re gonna start up something. They have to. It’s kind of crazy.”
This topic is understandably nothing new, with multiple attempts already falling through in recent years. Lee himself is unlikely to be forceful in the matter though, admitting that for the most part, he's positive about the promotion's impact on his life. "Honestly, I have no real complaints about it. I’m signing on the line, I know what I’m signing up for. Anytime I do and I say I’m gonna do something, I always make sure I hold up my end and I’m gonna do it. [The UFC has] afforded me so much to where my life is so much different than I thought it would be.
I truly thought that everything would just look different. It provided a better life for my family. It’s just afforded me so much that any negatives on it, I can’t really . . . it’s just like grievances, almost.”
With that being said, Lee is happy to see more promotions competing in the sport's upper echelons and understands their potential impact on his next contract. “Competition is always good. It’s just building even more and bigger and better. And it’s really the sport that we’re looking after. I’ve been in a contract with the UFC for a long while now but if another organization was to ever, you never know. I never know what the future can hold."
Credit to MMA Fighting for their transcript of Lee's comments.
