Leslie Smith launches Project Spearhead, a fighter-driven effort to get UFC athletes unionized

Leslie Smith created buzz last year when she asked Kobe Bryant about unions at the UFC Athlete Retreat. Long a part of fighter representation efforts, Smith has now gone off (mostly) on her own.

The UFC women’s bantamweight fighter has started Project Spearhead, an effort to get UFC athletes to unionize, she confirmed with MMA Fighting on Monday. Unlike past labor movement failures, Smith vows that this attempt for organization will be driven mainly by fighters. She will start out as the interim president of Project Spearhead and Kajan Johnson, a UFC lightweight, is the interim vice president.

“This is kind of just another in a long string of efforts, but I think a lot of things separate it…