Georges St-Pierre’s Lawyer Says UFC Contracts Are A Nice Form Of Slavery

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Georges St-Pierre’s lawyer, James Quinn (of New York firm Weil, Gotshal and Manges) compared the welterweight’s UFC contract to slavery. Here are highlights:

On reading the contract: “I’ve done a lot of work in sports. When I read that contract, I was blown away by how restrictive it is. They’re basically tying him up for life. They have no rights and they own all of his licensing and all the other things. It’s unheard of in the other professional sports. And they won’t get away with it forever.”

On how UFC contracts differ from other sports: “You couldn’t get away with any old contract in any of the other sports. There is litigation in that aspect of a class-action lawsuit that challenges the contract as being illegal under the NHS laws. That case is ongoing, and I think that under the law’s terms, I don’t think the contract — that formal contract — is likely to stand up. Not in today’s world. It’s a pretty nice form of slavery.”

On GSP wanting a fight: “He notified them earlier this year that he was ready to fight again. He wanted to arrange for the terms of the fight, and that did not happen in a timely fashion. They were required to actually schedule a fight, the time and place with a bout agreement, and we gave them — because there’s a 10-day notice period in the contract, in the old contract — we gave them the 10 days to do that, and they didn’t do it before the time period. And therefore we terminated the contract.”