Vera, Garza file third lawsuit against Zuffa in antitrust class action

A third lawsuit was filed on behalf of fighters against Zuffa in the Antitrust Class Action lawsuit in San Jose.  Brandon Vera and Pablo Garza were the two plaintiffs in this particular lawsuit which was filed on Christmas Eve.

“The Truth” was thought of in high regard by the UFC at one time.  But, he was derailed by contract issues in 2006 which had him embroiled in a civil lawsuit with his former manager.  Vera came back to the UFC but never lived up to the lofty expectations.  Vera was released from the UFC in June 2014 after a 9 year career with the company.  According to Vera, he turned down the UFC’s offer to extend his contract.   Dana White indicated to Vera that White wanted to “fix this” but communication between the two stalled after that.  Vera later found out through social media that he was released by the UFC. Vera signed with OneFC and fought earlier this past month.  Vera indicated, per MMA Fighting, that White congratulated him about the signing.  According to the article, Vera stated he had “no hard feelings with White in particular.” However, he stated that he had wished the UFC had “handled things differently.”

Pablo Garza fought with the UFC from December 2010 until April 2013.  According to Bloody Elbow, in 2012 Garza refused to sign a petition which stated the UFC was not a monopoly and that fighters are treated fairly.

MMA Payout has not seen the third lawsuit as of this writing, we will update if needed.  But, one might expect the lawsuit to mirror the two previous ones filed in San Jose.  As with the previous two, there is no word of service of the Complaint or whether Zuffa’s legal team will waive service to allow for more time to respond.

There has not been an official statement released by the UFC on this third lawsuit (or the second for that matter).

Payout Perspective:

In my parts, there is usually a “gentleman’s/gentlewoman’s agreement” about filing things on Christmas Eve although there was no need to respond by Zuffa on Wednesday.  Regardless, Vera is a noteworthy plaintiff in this action since he had contractual issues with the company dating back to 2006.  Garza also may be an interesting plaintiff based on his representation that he was asked to sign a document stating that the UFC was not a monopoly.  Of interest would be whether the UFC allowed the fighters to review it, how much time they had to review it and if they were allowed to have an attorney review it.

MMA Payout will keep you posted on the situation as the lawsuits continue to come in.