Leslie Smith was one of the many fighters who took part in the UFC Athlete Retreat last month in Las Vegas. Like many of her peers, she’s on the fence about whether the multi-day event full of public speeches and summits was worthwhile. Smith said it was difficult to relate with most of the speakers and take away valuable information because a large majority of fighters are far from wealthy.
Smith also is unsure about how game changing the new UFC Performance Institute, which opened the same weekend as the retreat, is. She can’t help but wonder if the organization slowly but surely increasing fighter pay instead of opening up a brand new institute at a cost of $14 million would have been better for her and her fellow athletes.
“I definitely think that we should get paid more, and that’s going to make the biggest improvements,” Smith told BloodyElbow.com’s The MMA Circus. “But when I say paid more, I’m not talking about an extra five grand per person. I think UFC fighters, especially the ones who’ve had six to 15 (or more) appearances, should be millionaires at this point.
“[The UFC Performance Institute] is a step in the right direction. The professionalism, the high-level care. Those are all steps in the right direction, but it can’t stop there,” she said.
Smith said the biggest issue with the new institute is that the UFC prides itself for being a global organization. Most of the roster does not live in Las Vegas, and for many of those fighters, travelling to train at the new facility is simply not a viable option.
“Finally they’re acknowledging that these are the types of tools and practices that are necessary for athletes to perform at the highest level,” she said. “And the next step is for them to realize, ‘Wow, we’re really not providing this to the majority of the roster.’”
Smith got some buzz during the May retreat, because she asked former basketball star Kobe Bryant, one of the event’s public speakers, his thoughts on unions. As an ex-NBA player, Bryant supported the idea, and many fighters supported Smith for having the courage to touch on that topic. That said, doing so came at a cost.
For years, Smith was publicly part of the Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association (MMAFA), a group that advocates for fighters’ rights. But after asking Bryant his thoughts on organizing and coming together, she was booted off the team.
The MMAFA is focused on adding the Ali Act to mixed martial arts and restoring true competition in the UFC. But it is against creating a union, Smith said, while the women’s bantamweight is not.
“They kicked me out of their discussion group and said that what I’m thinking and looking at is no longer in line,” she said. “Somebody from that group, Carlos Newton, heard what I was saying about Kobe Bryant and wanting a union and started talking in the group about how I’m manipulative and said some other highly critical things.”
Smith has no ill will towards the MMAFA, but is disappointed that she and the association could not see eye to eye.
“Instead of lashing out, I just pointed out that inside a group where they’re trying to inform other people, being dismissive and putting down other people who have different perspectives isn’t going to encourage anybody else to share different perspectives or ask questions. And I was kicked out shortly afterwards.”
Moving forward, Smith doesn’t plan on joining one of the other two associations trying to organize fighters — the PFA and the MMAAA. She was part of the PFA till late last year, and she has come across several red flags surrounding the MMAAA. To add onto that, the future of both groups is unclear.
“For the time being, I’m not pledging my allegiance to anyone. The only other people out there that would be an option anyway is the MMAAA,” she said. “And I talked to Bjorn (Rebney) awhile ago. First off, fighters don’t trust Bjorn. I don’t know him personally, but everybody who has had personal interactions with him say no good. That’s a pretty big stop in the first place. And he’s not a fighter; so why is he trying to get involved in the fighters’ rights? ‘Because he cares about fighters’ rights,’ someone might say? Then why didn’t he step up and get health insurance and any of the things he’s saying are so important for fighters when he was actually in a position to do so (as Bellator MMA president). So I’m not too sold on Bjorn being part of anything.”
Even if she was interested in joining the MMAAA, it doesn’t sound like Smith would have much say in the group.
“I was told that the members of the board are there because they stood up at the right time, and that that is not anything that’s going to change, that there is no way I can become a member of the board, that they’re not interested in making the board more representative of other fighters, females, and people not at the top.”
Smith said in a recent interview with MMAFighting.com that now is not the time to go full speed ahead with the union campaign. Why? Because fighters still need to be educated. Not enough understand the ins and outs of a union and know that many problems would go away with the formation of a union — one fighter being flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, Smith said.
“When we have champions who don’t realize that everything they’re talking about is not just about them, that it’s about how fighters are treated in the UFC, and that a UFC fighters union is going to deal with that,” she said, “we clearly still need to educate people.”