This past Friday, there was a hearing in the UFC Antitrust lawsuit filed by Kajan Johnson and CB Dollaway. The lawsuit mirrors the one filed by Cung Le, et al. and Zuffa filed a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit which was similar to the one that was denied by the Court.
It was of no surprise that Judge Boulware issued a similar result for this case. Boulware denied Zuffa’s Motion to Dismiss in Johnson’s lawsuit and it appears that the UFC antitrust lawsuits may be on hold until the resolution of a Ninth Circuit court case. As explained here, Judge Boulware is awaiting the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court Starkist Tuna company (the Tuna case) which filed a writ of certiorari (essentially an appeal). With the new term starting this month, we should learn the fate of that appeal.
Regardless, there will still be a long wait for a case that is going longer than most believed.
According to John Nash’s timeline on the case, the plaintiffs’ attorneys want changes to the UFC fighter contracts which addresses one of the issues regarding coercive contracts. Nash pointed out that there have been changes made to the contracts which may include an arbitration clause.
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