Neil Magny says UFC fighter organization attempts are ‘not going so well’

EDMONTON, Alberta — The last we heard from Neil Magny, the Colorado-based welterweight was attempting to put together a support network for his fellow fighters.

He was among the fighters who were prepared to air their grievances about several issues at the UFC Athlete Retreat in Las Vegas in May, and while he wasn’t able to give the speech he prepared, he still managed to get his message out.

But now that he’s back in the public eye, Magny reports that attempts to give fighters more of a collective voice over the things within their control isn’t exactly going great.

“It’s not going so well at all, actually,” Magny said at Wednesday’s UFC 215 media day at Rogers Place. “It’s pretty sad that, like, the fighters’ biggest downfall is the other fighters. I know that people are like, trying to turn it into saying ‘it should be us against the business,’ but in the reality of the business, it’s just, fighters are looking out for themselves and are screwing over all the other fighters.”

Magny says he’s upheld his end of the bargain by doing his best to help promote others’ outside opportunities, but it’s been a mixed bag.

“I’ve been trying to stay true to my word and support every person I can,” Magny said. “I followed over 100 other UFC fighters and [if anyone has] an appearance coming up or a seminar coming up, I’ll share it, I’ll retweet it, as soon as possible. Some guys are catching on and doing it was well, but some of them are like ‘ehh, whatever, I’m done.’”

So with that, it’s back to work for Magny (19-5), who has a big opportunity in taking on former lightweight champion Raphael dos Anjos (26-9) on Saturday night’s main card.

Magny enters the bout with wins in four out of his past five fights and is 11-2 in his past 13. He’s coming off a win over former welterweight champ Johny Hendricks in his last bout, so Magny believes he can put himself square in the welterweight title discussion by taking back-to-back wins over former champs.

“I feel like it would put me right in line for a title shot, to be honest with you. This would be the second former world champ I’ve beaten in a row, so if I got out and have an impressive performance, a dominant performance, the rewards should come after that.“