The Global Fighters Union (GFU) is calling on UK media to apply the same model used to support the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) to combat sports.
Under the model adopted by British broadcasters, the Premier League and the PFA, the latter benefits from funding from English football’s lucrative media rights deals.
The PFA receives an estimated £25m annually as part of its long-term arrangement with the Premier League, the GFU asserts. Established earlier this year for combat sports athletes like boxers and MMA figures, the GFU is calling for a similar deal to support its activities.
The union states that any financial support it receives from a broadcaster deal would be used to fund player welfare initiatives in combat sports, grassroots development, education, and community initiatives.
Amir Khan, a former World Champion boxer and Co-Founder of the GFU, said: “There has to be an organisation that’s above everything, that we all have to report to if there’s an issue in any situation. We’ve all had issues, in training, before fights after fights at weigh-ins, on contracts, in retirement.
“We can’t turn to promoters or boards of controls for so many issues, so to be able to turn to the Global Fighters’ Union for help and get it from people who have been there and done it not just between the ropes but in trade unions, in politics, in law, in the media and in education will be a massive positive change for everyone in our sport.”
As alluded to by Khan, the GFU is putting a lot of emphasis on the fact that there are currently no professional associations or unions representing combat sports athletes. This is a gap it hopes to fill when it goes live next month.
Like other sports, combat sports can be a complex landscape for athletes to navigate. Given the labyrinth of promoters, managers, sanctioning bodies, broadcasters, and other commercial stakeholders to navigate, it is arguably one of the most complex.
Speaking to Insider Sport shortly after the GFU was announced in January 2024, union Co-Founder Paul Smith – a former English and British Champion and part of the Smith boxing family alongside brothers Stephen, Liam and Callum – explained his experience of ‘practices which are the norm in combat sports – but ones that wouldn’t be allowed in any other profession’.
At the time, Paul and Stephen Smith explained that advising fighters on contracts would be a core focus for the union. Nearly a year down the line, the union’s remit has been further widened and clarified.
The GFU states that it will channel broadcast revenue into its efforts to secure fair and transparent contracts, ensuring minimum pay guarantees, advocating for equitable revenue sharing and supporting fighter safety via investments in medical evaluations and protective measures.
Additional focal areas include combating workplace discrimination, protecting image rights and providing post-career transition support through education and career development opportunities.
“We’ve spent 2024 laying the groundwork for the GFU to become a recognised trade union and we will launch it officially one year after we announced our plans to build it,” Paul Smith remarked.
“Through 2024 our team, structure and targets have all been established, and we will start the process of change in combat sports with a list of year one actions to be published shortly.
“It’s the right time for a new organisation dedicated to improving the business of combat sports at all levels to emerge, and we are grateful for all the support which has got us to this point.”
