Randy Couture discusses importance of expanding Ali Act to MMA

There has been increased talk recently of fighters banding together to create a fighters union.

However with that being said, there has also been talk of seeing the Muhammed Ali Act expanded to cover MMA. Former UFC champion Randy Couture believes that the decision is a “no brainer”.

He spoke to BloodyElbow to discuss the situation:

I think it’s a no brainer that the Ali Act be expanded to MMA. The similarities in the individual combative sports across the board, and the way the promoters deal with the athletes, is exactly why the Ali Act was formed. And to amend it a little bit and to expand it to mixed martial arts is, I think, a very simple thing to do

For those not familiar with the act, Couture expanded on what the Ali Act would do for MMA:

It would allow the top promoters, regardless of promotion, to compete against each other. An independent ranking system so we know regardless of promotion who is ranked what and make those fights happen. Eliminate some of those gray areas and some of the control promoters have. They can overlook a fighter or pass a fighter by because of what makes better business sense for them. In that regard it would level the playing field. It would eliminate some of the coercive and exploitive contracts fighters are forced to sign now because they want to fight in the top promotions and there’s nowhere else to go. It would clean up a lof of the language and increase the balance of power right now and level that playing field.

Couture also predicted that there would be push-back from some promoters in regards to opening up the market. With that being said, do you think the Ali Act will ever expand to cover MMA? If it does, are there any cross-promotion fights you would like to see?