Leslie Smith is under the impression that she has been ousted from the UFC after the promotion paid her the win money and show money for a canceled bout against Aspen Ladd, which was set for UFC Fight Night Atlantic City.
The former UFC star now feels that taking legal action against the UFC may be the only way to go.
“I feel like if I didn’t do that at this point, it wouldn’t be living up to everything I’ve been talking about,” Smith said on The MMA Hour. “That’s why I couldn’t take the fight once they offered me the $62,000, because then I would be fighting for free. And that’s been my whole point this whole time. We shouldn’t be manipulated by pride. We need to look at ourselves as a business and fight for the large sums of money that we deserve.”
A Go Fund Me has been set up for Smith’s legal defense, which has raised $1,580 of the requested $20,000 as of this writing.
Smith is the interim president for Project Spearhead and the fighter believes that is one reason why the UFC is getting rid of her.
“I guess in a way I guess I was almost hoping that Project Spearhead would be significant enough for them to be a little bit worried about it,” Smith said. “And then the fact that they did this unprecedented thing where they bought out my contract, so that I wouldn’t be around anymore kind of shows that they do think Project Spearhead is pretty significant.”
Other fighters are also part of the interim leadership board at Project Spearhead, including Kajan Johnson and Al Iaquinta.
