Wealthsimple makes powerful financial tools to help you grow and manage your money. Learn more In mixed martial arts (MMA), we don’t have an association to protect fighters like players in basketball, hockey or baseball do. There is no union in the fight game. So, for us in MMA, negotiations can become like a chess game. It was in 2008, two fights after I’d become UFC world champion, and my contract with the UFC was going to be up.