Following Wednesday's announcement that five UFC fighters have launched the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association, MMAFighting.com reached out to UFC officials for comment on all that was said during the two-hour conference call hosted by Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Tim Kennedy, T.J. Dillashaw and Donald Cerrone.
"We respect all of our athletes and are always open and willing to hear their thoughts on how to improve the sport," a UFC official said.
The same official added that the UFC would not have further comment at this time simply because the organization felt not enough details were shared on the call.
Interestingly, one of the MMAAA's prominent advisors, Bjorn Rebney, former Bellator CEO, said on the conference call that the group hasn't reached out to the UFC yet and doesn't plan on doing so any time soon.
"There's no reason (for us) to (reach out)," Rebney said. "Our structure and what we're doing, and our plan of attack, does not include us reaching out to the UFC. It includes the implementation of strategies that are designed, and have been designed over the last two years, to achieve a very specific set of goals. And those strategies, I think, will be very effective in achieving those goals. And at some point, I'm quite comfortable our phone will ring."
For more on Wednesday's announcement, read here.