Boxing was the perennial pay-per-view trendsetter for many years. With the likes of Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, George Foreman, Manny Pacquiao, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. boxing overall was filled with talented stars, with each contributing to the sport in their own way.  While they are all great boxers, none of them had as much impact on the sport as Muhammad Ali. With some of the most high-profile fights and feuds in the history of boxing, it is no wonder why Ali is a legend. Muhammad Ali needs no introduction.

Even years after his boxing career ended, Muhammad Ali helped change the sport. In 1996, The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, or most commonly known as the Ali Act, is a federal law dedicated to protecting the rights and welfare of boxers, aid state boxing commissions with the oversight of boxing, and increase sportsmanship and integrity within the boxing industry.

The MUHAMMAD ALI BOXING REFORM ACT, 2000 states the following:

The Congress makes the following findings:

Professional boxing differs from other major, interstate professional sports industries in the United States in that it operates without any private sector association, league, or centralized industry organization to establish uniform and appropriate business practices and ethical standards. This has led to repeated occurrences of disreputable and coercive business practices in the boxing industry, to the detriment of professional boxers nationwide.

State officials are the proper regulators of professional boxing events, and must protect the welfare of professional boxers and serve the public interest by closely supervising boxing activity in their jurisdiction. State boxing commissions do not currently receive adequate information to determine whether boxers competing in their jurisdiction are being subjected to contract terms and business practices which may violate State regulations, or are onerous and confiscatory

Promoters who engage in illegal, coercive, or unethical business practices can take advantage of the lack of equitable business standards in the sport by holding boxing events in States with weaker regulatory oversight.

The sanctioning organizations which have proliferated in the boxing industry have not established credible and objective criteria to rate professional boxers, and operate with virtually no industry or public oversight. Their ratings are susceptible to manipulation, have deprived boxers of fair opportunities for advancement, and have undermined public confidence in the integrity of the sport.

Open competition in the professional boxing industry has been significantly interfered with by restrictive and anti-competitive business practices of certain promoters and sanctioning bodies, to the detriment of the athletes and the ticket-buying public. Common practices of promoters and sanctioning organizations represent restraints of interstate trade in the United States.

It is necessary and appropriate to establish national contracting reforms to protect professional boxers and prevent exploitative business practices, and to require enhanced financial disclosures to State athletic commissions to improve the public oversight of the sport.”

Congress enacted the Ali Act in order to “fix” the sport of boxing and it was only respectable to name the act after one of the sport’s most legendary athletes and icons of all time.

Today, we see the likes of social media and YouTube stars, such as Jake Paul and Logan Paul advertising and marketing so-called “superfights” between themselves versus the likes of Floyd Mayweather or future Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Hall of Famers Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.

With the Paul brother’s successfully advertising fights, fighting well enough and taking home a huge payday, we see more and more challengers from MMA backgrounds stepping up to challenge the brothers.

The reason we see so many MMA challengers step up is the simple fact that the UFC and  other MMA leagues do not follow the Ali Act, or have anything similar to it. MMA stars often sign exclusive contracts for promotions which do not allow the signatory athletes to take on promotions themselves or to promote anything other than what the UFC is partnered with. Therefore, fighters within the sport of MMA are limited on their fight pay and subject to onerous contracts as drafted by the UFC or related promotions. Boxers on the other hand can make millions upon millions in just endorsements for their fights, such as Floyd Mayweather wearing an OnlyFans.com Hat pre-fight and post fight for interviews. Some reports show that Mayweather made up  to $30 million before the fight even happened due to his endorsements.

That is a lot of money to be made before a fight, enough to help set up your family and other interests for the rest of your life. The most important point to add is that if the fighter makes enough money in 1 fight, realistically they could retire and be a so-called “one and done” fighter. And if the fighter chooses to continue with more fights, the fighter will still be able to make way more and fight less, thus not damaging their bodies as much as fighting in 50 fights.

Fighting can lead to serious injuries and problems after a career in the cage or the ring. And for the health and safety of the athletes, Miletti Law believes that the Ali Act should either be modified to include MMA, or should have a similar comparative statute to help develop and protect the athletes more.  This should be something designed by those in the industry to ensure that the regulatory framework speaks to the demands of the fighters, but at the same time, encourages long term stability for promotions such as the UFC.  The athletes do the dirty work and deserve to be paid more.  It is a self-feeding spiral for the athletes—they train their entire lives, while ignoring their professional development and finances. When the time comes to contract and negotiate, they do not have adequate representation due to their total lack of available funds.  No representation means poor results in a negotiation.  Thus, we either need to address the financial issues earlier in the career, or create a framework that will permit for suitable negotiation.  At a bare minimum, the athletes should be able to sign promotions for themselves, not just what the UFC, or other industry promotion, says they need to promote.

Some may argue that Conor McGregor gets paid millions and millions for his fights.  While all that is true, he is on a whole different level and no athlete in MMA history comes remotely close to McGregor’s level of business acumen, ability to market himself, and as a result, his paydays. The next closest fighters who made just under $10 million in their whole careers are Alistair Overeem and Khabib Nurmagomedov. McGregor is estimated at almost $180 million in his fighting career. That seems a little unfair.

According to Reuters, the CEO of Bellator MMA, Mr. Scott Coker, came out publicly stating that Bellator would welcome the boxing act. Mr. Coker stated, “Boxing has had it for decades, and if the government moves towards that in MMA, we’ll embrace it. We’re not going to fight it, and it might be the best thing for everybody. To be honest, it puts everybody on an equal playing field, us included… I think it might be a blessing in disguise.”

The Ali Act would benefit everyone in MMA leagues across the world. And Bellator is leaning towards breaking through the barrier that the UFC doesn’t want to do.  “We’ve always been a ‘fighters first’ organization, and if they (fighters) want to go this route and the government wants to go this route, then we’ll do it, we’ll abide by it. We’ll make some adjustments and it’s business as usual, as far as I’m concerned,” Mr. Coker said.

If the government steps in and brings down the hammer on MMA as well, the UFC will have no choice but to comply, which is what Bellator MMA is suggesting.

The Muhammad Ali Expansion Act as proposed, would expand the scope of the original Ali Act, and replace certain terms, which would enable its applicability to MMA.  While promising, the act has a long way to go, as it has not been fully approved by the house.

The H.R.44- The Muhammad Ali Expansion Act ultimately aims to: “Combat Sport Contracts-Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Muhammad Ali Expansion Act, the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) shall develop and shall approve by a vote of no less than a majority of its member State boxing commissioners, guidelines for minimum contractual provisions that should be included in bout agreements and mixed martial arts and other combat sport contracts. It is the sense of the Congress that State boxing commissions should follow these ABC guidelines. Combat sports also should No later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Muhammad Ali Expansion Act, the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) shall develop and shall approve by a vote of no less than a majority of its member State boxing commissioners, guidelines for minimum contractual provisions that should be included in bout agreements and mixed martial arts and other combat sport contracts. It is the sense of the Congress that State boxing commissions should follow these ABC guidelines.”

What the act is trying to do is apply the same rules to combat sports, as it does for boxing, which would really change the game for MMA fighters in the industry.

According to Forbes, the UFC is facing an antitrust lawsuit by fighters due to MMA leagues not adopting the Ali Act. In recent news, the federal court granted class certification for the MMA plaintiffs, and now, what was once a 6 fighter lawsuit, is now a class action of 1,214 fighters seeking between $800 million and $1.6 billion in damages, before tripling, unless the UFC can get a favorable decision on appeal.” While there is still a long way to go, this was a serious win for the MMA plaintiffs.

While the industry is looking to clean itself up, and it may take a few years to bring about the changes needed by the MMA collectively, Miletti Law serves the immediate interest of the fighters until a better framework is in place.  We here at Miletti Law, are all about protecting the players and their best interests.  The gladiators, who put their lives at risk daily, should have a better framework to preserve their careers and the industry overall. For the athletes who participate in MMA, which is one of the hardest combat sports in the world because it combines every aspect of fighting, deserves not only to be paid, but deserves proper industry representation overall.  Just like “Money” Mayweather, MMA Fighters deserve the opportunity to make $30 million before the fight even begins. So why is boxing still making all the money? Yes, it might be more glamorous and historically more honorable, but even the savages of the NFL and the gridiron make way more than MMA athletes and we applaud them for the brutal game they play. Yes, we applaud the savage sport of MMA but now it’s time to back them up and help them get paid so we don’t lose the sport we all come to love. MMA fighters deserve to “get the bag” each and every fight. As a result of a long history of participation in competitive sport, along with years of industry experience and contract negotiation, Miletti Law has the ability to provide top notch representation for all levels of competitive athlete, enabling them to spend more time training and less time worrying where their next meal is coming from. We all but ensure financial stability, ensure more suitable fights, and focus on protecting the health and safety of the fighters, while they master their craft.