WKR has long thought a fighter's union or guild --plus the subsequent collective bargaining agreement that would come with organized labor-- would be in the best interest of the UFC. Zuffa will never ever let a union form most likely doesn't agree with WKR's assessment. 

That reality has often left WKR pondering the question: How could a fighter's union or guild form?

The most obvious narrative would be a potential labor dispute with a powerful star. The history of most major U.S. sports leagues followed this script. A big name athlete challenges the controlling contract of his team in court and wins. This is usually coupled with a popular athlete unionizing his peers. 

Such drastic changes in the status-quo usually take years if not decades. The National Basketball Players Association was formed in 1954 but it wasn't until 1964 that the first CBA was agreed upon and not until 1976 that players defeated the "Reserve Clause" in court. The "Reserve Clause" basically stated that the player was property of their team for life and could not leave the team unless they chose to release, sell or trade that player (and his contract). The clause further stated that a team could renew a contract even if the player would not sign it.

With regards to the UFC there is no "Reserve Clause" that could cause legal dispute but the "Championship Clause" and the Exclusive Promotional and Ancillary Rights Agreement --where fighters sign over there eternal rights to "name, sobriquet, voice, persona, signature, likeness and/or biography."-- could be the kindle to start a legal fire. 

Randy Couture's legal battle with the UFC briefly appeared to begin the process of challenging certain aspects of Zuffa contracts, a possible first step towards a fighter's union. However this legal challenge was short lived as Couture re-entered the organization to fight Brock Lesnar. This incident highlighted the immense temporal sacrifice an individual athlete would have to make for the chance of legal victory. 

The difficulties that Randy Couture faced appeared to close the door, at least in the present, of a star taking Zuffa to court. 

Perhaps the star-legal battle path is the wrong direction to expect a fighter's guild to emerge from. Perhaps organized labor will come from fighter gyms and teams. 

Fighter teams are already a thorn in the side of the UFC. Bloody Elbow recently detailed the difficulty Dana White is facing when trying to have team mates fight each other inside the UFC. 

Why are fighter teams a possible road map for organized labor?

It is quite simple really. The high cost of training has lead many fighters to band together in gyms that provide services outside of mere facilities to work out in. Take American Kickboxing Academy for instance. This gym provides lawyers, managers and sponsors for the fighters that pay to be apart of the gym. In a sense AKA is a mini-fighter's guild already functioning and dealing with the UFC. While fighter's are still free to make independent decisions they are all providing support for one another without prejudice to what tier a fighter is currently in e.g. local promotion vs. Strikeforce vs. UFC. 

The formation of "teams" --that provide ancillary services in addition to training partners-- is a trend that is occurring across the landscape of MMA. The rise of the "team" unit is an unique moment in combat sports and could provide the pathway to organized labor. 

While WKR is clearly playing the role of a "futurist" it's still an interesting grass roots development. As fighter's coalesce around gyms their leverage increases. Of course it will still take a serious legal challenge or catalyst event to push the "team" system into open cooperation to achieve a fighter's guild.