On Wednesday, TKO Group filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has settled its lawsuit with the former fighters in the Cung Le and Kajan Johnson lawsuits.
The trial date in the Le lawsuit was set to commence on April 15th but the parties had entered into private mediation. While all mediations do not end in settlement, this one did. According to the SEC filing the parties agreed to settle the case for $335 million to be paid in installments.
The settlement brings to end a 10 year legal fight for the rights of fighters. The monetary settlement likely means that Zuffa will not be compelled by a court to adjust in contractual terms with fighters. Moreover, its business practices will remain the same although the market for fighters has more competitors. Presumably, the settlement will be shared by all of those fighters in the defined class according to an agreed-to court plan.
MPO will have more on the outcome of this result. In short, the risks for both sides to go to trial and lose outweighed any perceived moral obligation or confident notion to see this case to verdict.
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