“It is possible that intelligent tadpoles reconcile themselves to the inconvenience of their position by reflecting that, though most of them will live and die as tadpoles and nothing more, the more fortunate of the species will one day shed their tails, distend their mouths and stomachs, hop nimbly on to dry land and croak addresses to their former friends on the virtues by means of which tadpoles of character and capacity can rise to be frogs.”—R.H. Tawyney
It is probably not the best use of one’s time and energy to spend too much time thinking about the latter stages in a process everyone agrees is a long way from starting. However, in a week sandwiched between two ho-hum fight nights and with labor issues seemingly still at the forefront of the MMA news cycle, I thought I’d indulge myself.
Earlier this month, The Athletic published the illuminating results of its inaugural fighter survey, which polled 170 fighters across a range of promotions, age groups, experience levels and countries about a diverse range of issues, including fighter pay, Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White and CTE. Unsurprisingly, one of the more attention-grabbing topics was on unionization, with an overwhelming 79.4 percent of surveyed fighters being in favor of organizing with their peers in a way comparable to the professional unions and associations in other sports. This was accompanied by a list of “active” fighters nominated as the best candidates for leading said organization, with Conor McGregor (24.6 percent), Daniel Cormier (17.4 percent) and Georges St. Pierre (11.4 percent) collectively accounting for over half of all votes cast.
You can read the rest of this article at Sherdog.com.
Jacob Debets 