Former UFC fighters Kajan Johnson and C.B. Dolloway filed a lawsuit against Zuffa, LLC and Endeavor for violations of U.S. antitrust law. The lawsuit mirrors the one filed by Cung Le and other former UFC fighters but this one would seemingly extend the time of alleged violations with the potential of including hundreds more UFC fighters.
The Le, et al. lawsuit is still pending Judge Richard Boulware’s decision on class action status.
The new lawsuit filed this past week would cover all fighters not covered in the original Le Complaint which was limited from December 16, 2010 to June 30, 2017.
According to a press release from plaintiffs’ counsel at Berger Montague, Eric Cramer stated, “By filing this action, we are bringing the proposed class period forward to also cover all fighters who competed in bouts between June 30, 2017 and the present.”
Payout Perspective:
There is not a lot different from the lawsuit filed by Le, et al. in December 2014 and this one filed 7 years later. There are some update of facts including Endeavor as a defendant. Also, as screenshotted above, the allegation that Zuffa controls 90% of the revenues derived from Professional MMA. But does this mean that we will have to go through this whole process again? Perhaps. This lawsuit secures that all “current” fighters are now part of a potential class. This forces the hand of Zuffa. Certainly, they can go through the process of dismissing Johnson and Dolloway’s lawsuit but we know how much time that may take. The likely outcome at this point is to consolidate both cases into one although we may see some pushback on this issue from Zuffa and maybe Endeavor. With litigation piling up, we will see what happens next. MPO will continue to follow.
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