The court in the UFC Antitrust Lawsuit denied a motion for reconsideration by Zuffa as it relates to testimony stricken from the record from Joe Silva. The testimony relates to the former matchmaker’s lack of knowledge of wage share prior to negotiating fighter compensation.
As we know from the documents made public in the lawsuit, UFC athletes made 20% or less of the event revenues. In witness testimony, Silva testified that Zuffa did not have a set pay structure and he did not attempt to pay fighters a certain percent of revenue because he did not negotiate with these figures in mind. In fact, he claimed he did not operate with an athlete compensation budget. A declaration was offered by Zuffa in its motion for reconsideration of Joe Silva.
Plaintiffs objected to the use of Silva’s testimony citing that a lay witness was providing testimony more in line with an economic expert. Plaintiffs also claimed that the testimony of Silva was unfair surprise. As a result, the Court sustained Plaintiffs’ objection to the reference to wage share and struck all Mr. Silva’s answers related to revenues from the record.
The testimony is below. Zuffa’s attorney questioned Joe Silva whether he knew about wage share under objections from Plaintiffs. The Court agreed with Plaintiffs citing that Silva did not previously testify about wage share and/or paying athletes based on Zuffa event revenues.
#UFC Antitrust testimony of Joe Silva this past Monday. #Zuffa attempts to ask Silva about Wage Share but over Plaintiffs' objection. Court agrees with objection and prevents the inclusion of testimony. #Zuffa has filed motion for reconsideration pic.twitter.com/5yJ8S7yQ5X
— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) September 28, 2019
href=”https://t.co/5yJ8S7yQ5X”>pic.twitter.com/5yJ8S7yQ5X— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) September 28, 2019 href=”https://t.co/5yJ8S7yQ5X”>pic.twitter.com/5yJ8S7yQ5X— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) September 28, 2019#Zuffa has submitted a Declaration from Joe Silva in support of his testimony this past week. This is Zuffa's Motion for Reconsideration to include this testimony re Wage Share. Plaintiffs objected to use b/c he never previously testified about it. Court agreed to sustain pic.twitter.com/EB1teZRHvh
— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) September 28, 2019
In a short minute order issued on Tuesday, the Court denied without further reasoning Zuffa’s motion. Presumably, this is a good sign for Plaintiffs as Judge Richard Boulware sided with their objection in preventing testimony from one of the key witnesses to come into consideration as he rules on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification.
If the Court allows class action status, the lawsuit shall proceed. If class action status is denied, the Plaintiffs can proceed with their cases individually but in all likelihood this lawsuit will be over. If you are to view this on the side of Zuffa, the denial is not a foreclosure on their case but if the Judge rules in their favor, the anticipated appeal would be more of an obstacle as the Court has sustained their objection in not considering Silva’s testimony as it relates to wage share. MMA Payout will continue to follow as it appears a decision on class action status is coming sooner than later.
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