GSP and others promise ‘industry redefining’ announcement on Wed at 4:00 p.m. ET

During today’s The MMA Hour, Ariel Helwani read a press release from notable PR firm O’Malley Hansen Communications. It promised an “industry redefining” announcement on Wednesday, via a media conference call at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Present on the call will be Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Tim Kennedy, TJ Dillashaw, Donald Cerrone, and Bellator founder Bjorn Rebney. A rep for O’Malley Hansen Communications told MMA Fighting‘s Marc Raimondi that further information is embargoed until the call.

There is, of course, no embargo on speculation.

GSP, Kennedy, Dillashaw, and Cerrone have all come out in favor of a union or players association, so that is the obvious guess. PFA head Jeff Boris appeared on The MMA Hour in August shortly after issuing a press release detailing his intention to form a UFC fighter’s union. So the release being read on The MMA Hour fits. And Boris said he planned to announce a nine-member board of current and former fighters this month, so the timing too fits. And he said some fighters did not wish to be named, so less than nine fits.

Where Rebney, who was ousted by Viacom after they purchased Bellator, fits into the scenario is anyone’s guess. Maybe they need someone to terrify small children.

Consider this response from Malki Kawa, who manages Jon Jones, Alistair Overeem, Frank Mir, Tyron Woodley, and Benson Henderson among dozens of others.

“If Bjorn rebney is in, I’m out,” tweeted Kawa. “He was the most anti-fighter promoter I ever met. Contract worse than UFC, and he was a nightmare compared to UFC to deal with.”

https://twitter.com/malkikawa/status/803431730048802816

A union is not the only conceivable announcement. If the Muhammad Ali Act were to be extended to MMA at the Federal level, then title fights would be independent of a promotion, and promoters would have to bid for the rights to hold them. However, it is as likely that a 50′ tall winged monkey flies out of Brittney Palmer’s derriere as the Ali Act passes under president Trump. So Rebney announcing some fighter-owned promotion, the MMA equivalent to the forming of United Artists nearly 100 years ago, doesn’t fit.

Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Tim Kennedy, and TJ Dillashaw are all represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the arch rival of talent agency WME-IMG that now owns the UFC. If there is a CAA connection, it is not likely to be a fighter organization effort, as you cannot simultaneously represent some fighters and represent all fighters. For that matter, it is not clear how WME-IMG can represent both Rousey and own the UFC, so an agency vs. agency angle is not inconceivable.

One thing you can count on in MMA is someone talking, so expect something more than nothing more to come out before Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. If you hear absolutely nothing new, it really is big – a major effort to organize the UFC into a union.