Cris Cyborg Could Be The Fighter To Challenge The UFC's 'Champion's Clause'
A lot of things would have to go right, but Cyborg could be a historic figure in UFC history
The UFC has a long list of labor practices that are not very fighter friendly. Near the top of that list is something the promotion likes to refer to as the "champion's clause." The name sounds pretty cool, right? It's exclusive and highfalutin. It's reserved for the best of the best. It's the top of the line. The reality of the snazzily named clause is it's nothing but a way for the UFC to keep its best fighters tethered to the promotion as long as those fighters hold a UFC title...and a little longer if they lose the title.
There's no way to paint that as a positive for the independent contractors of the UFC. What the lovely "champion's clause" does is restrict a fighter from earning the most money they can when their potential to do so is at its highest point. It suppresses earning power and keeps fighters from shopping their services when their popularity is at its peak and it just might be illegal.
The problem is that UFC fighters have such short careers and their wages are so low that no fighter has ever fought this clause in court. If Cris Cyborg wants to, and there is no indication that she does, she could be the fighter to attempt to change that, especially since UFC president Dana White is doing his best to goad her into singing a one-fight deal that totally might not be a one-fight deal.
"Sure (I would do a one-fight deal)," White told reporters ahead of this past weekend's UFC 240 fight card. "She doesn't want to fight Amanda Nunes. Period. End of story. She wouldn't be a free agent (if she won). She'd have the belt and there's a clause that goes along with the belt. So it wouldn't really be a (one-fight deal)."
Cyborg is a free agent. She fought out her contact at UFC 240, defeating Felicia Spencer by unanimous decision.
The 34-year-old Brazilian could take White up on his offer and if she beats Nunes and that one-fight deal turns into not really a one-fight deal, Cyborg could challenge the "champion's clause.". Yes, that would effectively end her MMA career, but there's a chance she could win the case.
"I think it's potentially a violation of the 13th Amendment, the prohibition against slavery or involuntary servitude," Northwestern University labor law professor Zev Eigen told Bleacher Report in 2013 when discussing Eddie Alvarez's UFC contract. "You can't force someone to work for you. I don't know how, under contract law, that would be enforceable. But I don't think it's been challenged."
Even Lawrence Epstein, who was the UFC general counsel at the time and is now COO of the UFC, seemed to have doubts about the legal feasibility of the "champion's clause."
"It's never come into play before so we've never had a situation where it's been legally interpreted," Epstein said. "But I can tell you, in my personal opinion, I think this is an opportunity for the promoter who has spent lots of time, effort and money promoting an athlete, building up his career, ultimately getting him to the point he could be a champion—and simply having the opportunity to enjoy that for at least one extension of the agreement.
"But I don't think the law would support a perpetual agreement where you continue to roll over and roll over a champion's clause essentially until an athlete lost."
If Cyborg could get the title back and then win a monumental victory over not just White, but the entire UFC organization, that would establish a legacy that would live forever. That would be a change that would impact the future of the UFC and top-level fighters until the end of the organization. That would be historic.
Is this a huge leap? Yes. It requires Cyborg to get a big enough "one-fight" contract that she'll be in solid financial shape for a long time. It requires her to defeat the woman who knocked her out in 51 seconds. And lastly, it requires the wherewithal to get involved in a long and costly legal battle that might not end in her favor. But if it did, oh what a sweet, sweet, sweet victory it would be.
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Music Time:
Seems fitting on a few levels right now…
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Art Time:
Raymond Pettibon: Life Is A Misery and I Do Not Know When Death May Come. Play Ball!, 1989
