MMA Junkie reports that attorneys for Knockout Investments (KOI), owners of Golden Glory (GG), have secured a bond to garnish the wages of UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem from UFC 141. The attorneys for KOI and GG obtained a second writ of attachment late last month.
An order for a second writ of attachment to garnish Overeem was entered January 27th and the entry of the order and posting of the bond took place on January 31st.
Via MMA Junkie:
This order asks $427,714.27 to be withheld by UFC parent company Zuffa LLC and deposited by check to a Nevada District Court. The amount is nearly double that of a previous order obtained the day of UFC 141, which was not executed when a surety bond was not deposited to the court.
According to the Junkie article, this court order requests garnishment of guaranteed payments from UFC 141 includes 30% of Overeem’s purse, PPV, ancillary and intellectual property payments which are to be paid to Overeem are due within 30 days of 141. Thus, they came due on January 30th.
Payout Perspective:
We explained last time the procedural reasons why KOI and GG could not garnish Overeem’s wages from 141. It was reported that due to the lack of bond, the Nevada State Athletic Commission paid Overeem his fight purse. We might assume from the order, that Zuffa has yet to pay Overeem in full for the other areas he is owed including the first payment of his $1 million signing bonus. If Overeem’s fight purse has been paid to Overeem, there will be another fight to get that money.
Initially, it appeared that the first attempt to garnish wages was a mere tactic in the litigation between the two camps. Now, it appears that KOI and GG mean business with the security bond. Expect further litigation maneuvers especially with Overeem set for one of the biggest fights (and bigger paydays) of the year against Junior dos Santos.
This is going to get ugly.
$428K is 30% of his total payments, that means he made $1.4M in total payments – which may or may not include his signing bonus. His fight with Dos Santos will probably do similar #s. That’s a lot of money to fight over. I predict that many lawyers will get rich.
A gym getting 30% of everything a fighter makes – apparently in perpetuity, and including ancillary rights – sounds obscenely high to me. I assume if Alistair someday writes a book about his life Golden Glory would want 30% of that. I always assumed managers got ~10% and gyms got a flat fee.
Does anyone know what kinds of deals gyms like ATT, AKA and Jackson-Winkeljohn give their fighters?
Overeem may have significant defenses to contract formation if this issue were to be litigated. Also depends whether or not he had legal counsel at the time of signing. Imhlo the original contract with GG will be reformed to comply with the current industry standard, whatever that may be, though they will almost certainly receive some portion of his winnings for what will probably be made into a circumscribed period.
Don’t know what deals the gyms currently offer, however, anyone looking at their offers would be well advised to not sign over 30% of their purse. Although, it depends on what the gym provides in return of course.