Wednesday afternoon, MMA stars such as former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, and fan favorite fighter Donald Cerrone, among others, gathered to announce the formation of the MMA Athletes Association.

The announcement was certainly a major one for the MMA industry, with the fighters involved, in addition to former Bellator MMA CEO Bjorn Rebney, pointing out that they would like to have a lasting impact on the MMA community with the formation of the MMA Athletes Association. UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy was the one who formally made the announcement at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, in which he stated that “I am proud to announce the official launch of the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association.”

Kennedy continued by saying:

“We’re gonna change the face of an entire industry and sport today.”

Shortly following the announcement of the formation of the MMA Athletes Association, the UFC issued a brief statement on the matter trough MMAFighting, stating:

“We respect all of our athletes and are always open and willing to hear their thoughts on how to improve the sport.

This isn’t the first time the UFC brass has remained passive when giving statements in regards to a Fighter’s Union, earlier this year when the Professional Fighter’s Association (PFA) was launched, UFC President Dana White was asked about it during a press conference, with his reply being that he knew nothing about the situation.

Stay tuned for updates as they become available.