The antitrust lawsuit filed by former UFC fighters against the company continued on into 2015 with various motions attempting to move and dismiss the case. As we end 2015, the case is now in Nevada before Judge Richard Boulware and the parties enter the discovery phase of the lawsuit.
In December 2014, fighters filed multiple lawsuits against the UFC (“Zuffa” to be technically correct) in federal court in San Jose. The attorneys for the UFC filed a motion to transfer the venue to Nevada. In June, the court in San Jose granted the UFC’s request and the lawsuit was moved to Nevada.
Order – Motion to Transfer Venue by JASONCRUZ206
In addition, the UFC filed a Motion to Dismiss. The motion was denied by Judge Boulware in late September. This meant that the lawsuit would continue.
The parties now are in the discovery phase as the UFC is turning over a voluminous amount of documents over to the plaintiffs. There is no trial date set. At some point in 2016, we may see the parties reach out to the third parties that may relate to some of the claims in the lawsuit (e.g., Scott Coker, Bjorn Rebney, etc.). Expect this to take some time as their lawyers will get involved. Also in 2016, we should may see depositions of UFC employees and plaintiffs. After that, you can expect a motion for summary judgment by either side (or perhaps both). If you were hoping to see a trial in 2016, you are probably hoping against hope.
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