Cub Swanson suggests “perfect leader” for potential fighters association

Long-time UFC featherweight contender Cub Swanson believes he knows the “perfect leader” for a potential fighters association: Brian Stann.

Over the last few weeks, a host of UFC fighters have aired their grievances with respect to fighter pay—most notably UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal.

This has led to renewed conversations surrounding the importance of creating a fighters association.

If an association were created, Swanson believes former UFC middleweight contender Brian Stann would be the perfect man to lead.

“I’ve always said I thought Brian Stann was a perfect leader to represent the fighters,” Swanson told MMA Junkie. “He was just a very moral person, and he would stop and go, ‘Hey, guy’s, that’s not right.’ And you’d think about it and go, hey, man, I think it’s the military, and truly I think the fighters need a group of people that represent them, they will negotiate on everyone’s behalf and just make sure that we’re set up for long term. That’s all.”

One of the main gripes against the UFC of late has been the share of company revenue that ends up in the pockets of the fighters. As Masvidal has pointed out, many sports organizations split revenue 50-50 with athletes. The UFC, however, keeps close to 82 percent of revenue, leaving around 18 percent for athletes.

Swanson believes there’s plenty of work to be done in that regard, and that fighters getting 25-30 percent of revenue would be a good place to start.

“I saw Masvidal speak up against the fighter pay that he’d like to get paid more, which, you know, everybody would,” Swanson said. “So all I really want to say on that is that, you know, in other professional sports there’s a big split, 50-50 roughly, depending on the sport and everything. And obviously they worked their way up to that, so I think if the UFC is profiting this much, I think we can come to terms on like a 25 percent, 30 percent and work our way up, and I think that’s beyond reasonable.”

While Swanson believes there’s room for growth in terms of how the UFC treats its fighters, he insisted that it’s not his intention to disparage the promotion, which he says treats him quite well.

“The UFC does really generous things,” Swanson said. “They paid for my surgery. They took care of everything. They made sure I went to a great doctor, so I’m not going to bash them. They’ve been amazing to me.”

What do you think of this suggestion from Cub Swanson? Is Brian Stann the man to lead a potential fighters association?