Borris denies leaking names of fighters interested in union

UFC women’s bantamweight Leslie Smith is committed to a union for top professional mixed martial arts athletes. However, she recently withdrew her support for Jeff Boris’s Professional Fighters Association, over concerns that fighter’s names were made public before they had committed to the unionizing effort. Labor attorney Lucas Middlebrook who has represented Nick Diaz also withdrew his support from the PFA, for the same reasons.

Boris, a notable agent for baseball players, told Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting that what he characterized as Smith’s “disdain” for agents had skewed her judgment.

“I told her that if you look at every major sport — baseball, basketball, football, hockey — they have agent advisory boards in each sport,” said Borris. “And there’s lots of good agents, too, and they have their finger on the heartbeat of the industry. I need them and I will rely on these agents to help guide me as far as what issues they see as being important to them in collective bargaining.”

Borris was also said the departure of Smith and Middlebrook was just a speedbump.

“I have many other fighters who have greater stature in the fight game who have committed to me,” he said. “There are many labor lawyers who are vying for that position.”

And he flatly denied being the source of the leaked fighter information.

“I never released any information regarding anybody’s name to the public at any time,” said Borris. “I’ve been asked a million times by lots of reporters on numerous occasions. I’ve always said I cannot and I will not release any names.”

Adding to the complexity, on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. a number of fighters will take part in a media call about an effort that according to a press release will redefine the industry. Some signs point to it being the announcement of a PFA fighter board.