Urijah Faber Says Three MMA Unions Are Too Much

Urijah Faber spoke with MMAjunkie about efforts to organize a fighter’s union and more. Highlights are below:

On the three different organizations uniting fighters: “Three unions? C’mon. How are you going to have a union and have three friggin’ unions? I’m not super educated on it, but I would think there can’t be three unions if they’re going to work well, and if they’re actually trying to unify.”

On Bjorn Rebney’s involvement with MMAAA and the CAA/WME feud: “The biggest thing I know about Bjorn Rebney is his dad was the (Winnebago) guy…In the fight world, that’s like Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva at the prime of Chael talking about slapping Anderson’s wife on the ass. And CAA’s behind this union; it’s their way of getting their hands on the MMA game, I feel like.”

On working with promotions to improve conditions for fighters: “I would rather work with and build a relationship with the UFC brass and be somebody that can say, hey, if you guys don’t want to do a union or be part of a union, let’s talk about some things that could really help us out as fighters. I don’t think having three different groups trying to do a union is the answer. If we’re going to do a union, it has to be unified. It has to be one group, and we all have to come to the same conclusion. We have to work with the UFC and say OK, this is what we’re trying to do. I’d like to pick Dana (White)’s brain and Ari Emanuel’s brain and say, ‘Hey, what’s the problem with having a union? Why wouldn’t you want it? Why would you want it? What are some of the good things that a union could do?’ I don’t think these guys are unreasonable, and they want to take care of people. So I would work as a go-between. I think it makes better sense for good relationships to talk to organizations, and everybody work toward some better ideas.”

On wanting to meet with new UFC co-owner Ari Emanuel: “I think there’s definitely a voice of reason that could reach that guy because I think he cares about the fighters, as well…It has to be from the right heart, the right place, and with the right people. I’m going to research it because I definitely am going to be a part of this sport in a lot of different ways.”