Unions

Fighting is a tough sport. People get hurt fighting and training, people get sick, and sometimes people get injuries that stick with them for the rest of their lives. Currently, if a fighter gets hurt training for a fight, or on a show with less than ideal insurance (the UFC has tremendous insurance for their shows), they have to pay for it out of their own pockets. This is not a problem for big names like Chuck Lidell as they make a pile of money, and can afford excellent medical attention. But even guys who are making what would otherwise be a comfortable living are in a real tough spot if they get hurt.

Not only do guys lose any money they would have made from fighting, they lose any sponsorship money they would earn per fight. They have to pay their medical bills, and that can add up pretty quickly, as not every country has socialized health care.

Now the obvious solution to this problem is to nationalize health care and insurance. Unfortunately, America is The Worst, so other measures have to be taken. In most instances, the next logical choice is to unionize.

Unfortunately, America tends to stink at unions. Add to this the fact that a significant portion of fighters don't live in America (I don't have any idea as to the quality of Brazilian social services for example), there are no "big names" willing to go to bat for a union (except Tito, but he's dumb as hell), and almost all of the smaller organizations would just not be able to afford to contribute significantly towards health and disability insurance. A really strong union with high demands would cripple all but the most financially stable organizations.

The next step from here would be for the fighters simply to take a portion of each fighters salary and buy group insurance policies. This is a great idea for the little guy, but is entirely dependent on the good will of the more popular fighters. Such a union would be able to negotiate higher salaries from organizations who can afford it, hopefully allowing the smaller companies to survive and increasing the quality of life of the little guy. Unfortunately, the only dude making reasonable money I see straight up going for that idea is Jeff Monson, who probably has better (or possibly much worse) ideas on this subject than I do.

Big organizations like the UFC could cover injuries incurred will training, but it doesn't seem like something they are interested in doing. If fighters' salaries increase on their own to the point that they don't have to fear for their livelihood in the case of injury then a union will become less imperitive, but right now there are some guys in very difficult positions trying to live their dream and make a decent living.

I didn't talk about a pension fund, which on one hand is really a basic thing that everyone should have access to, but on the other hand the idea of Marcus Davis eating dog food in his later years is pleasing to me.