Bellator sues the UFC to prevent access to company documents

Bellator has sued Zuffa in federal court in California to prevent the UFC from obtaining key financial and contract information on fighters in its possession.  The Viacom-owned company is seeking to quash the subpoenas served by the UFC to obtain information that is part of the antitrust lawsuit it is involved with former fighters.

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District for the Central District of California.  The antitrust lawsuit’s current venue is in Nevada federal court.

Bellator claims that it has already “produced in excess of two thousand pages of responsive documents” related to the lawsuit.  It argues that the UFC’s request for additional information seeks confidential information, seek trade secret and other sensitive information.

Payout Perspective:

This was an obvious result from the discovery in this lawsuit.  It was clear that the UFC or Plaintiffs would request information on contracts and finances from its biggest competitor.  It was also clear that Bellator would not provide this information.  It does appear that Bellator has complied to a certain extent.  The UFC will likely say that some (maybe most) of the information provided by Bellator was irrelevant and a document dump and it has not provided the information provided in its subpoena requests.  With Bellator intervening, the process for the Le plaintiffs to go to trial will take much longer due to the fight over documents.

MMA Payout will have more in the next day.