Former Bellator Middleweight Champion Gegard Mousasi has filed a lawsuit against Bellator and the PFL for breach of contract. Mousasi’s lawsuit argues that he was “warehoused” (the term used for not being used by the promotion) and had to take his last fight injured.
Mousasi lost the Bellator Middleweight Championship to Johnny Eblen in June 2022. He did not have another fight until May 2023 when he fought (and lost) to Fabian Edwards. Mousasi claims he was injured during the fight but worried that if he turned down the Edwards fight he would be “warehoused” indefinitely.
Mousasi noted that when the PFL and Bellator merged, he was asked to sign an Addendum which extended his fight contract by 18 months or 3 bouts, whichever came first.
Mousasi had signed an 8-fight deal with Bellator in 2017 after his stint in the UFC. He was paid a base of $150,000 per fight for his first four fights. His next four fights he would be paid $200,000 with a $50,000 bonus for winning for KO or submission “plus a promotional fee for each such bout of $600,000. After his fourth bout, Gegard was guaranteed to earn $800,000 per bout ($200,000 + $600,000) and up to $850,000.
After his first loss to Johnny Eblen in June 2022, Mousasi infers that he was not given another fight in almost a year because his guaranteed purse increased to $200,000.
After signing the Addendum, he was never promoted by the PFL. The lawsuit includes email exchanges between Mousasi’s representative and Donn Davis and Mike Kogan of the PFL. Mousasi argued that Davis had inferred that Mousasi would have to renegotiate his contract (to a lower base rate) to get a fight again.
Despite dogged efforts by Mousasi’s agent, the lawsuit depicts PFL as not wanting to give Mousasi another fight.
In April 2024, Mousasi was interviewed by MMAJunkie about his situation:
In May 2024, he gave an interview with MMAFighting about his status stating the PFL was not talking to him about future fights, he made too much money and his only recourse was legal action. He was sent an email the same day of the interview notifying him that his contract was terminated.
The lawsuit requests “no less than $15,000,000” as well as punitive damages. Mousasi’s attorneys are also asking for a court ruling that Bellator/PFL are liable for antitrust violations for holding a monopsony in the “market of Elite Professional MMA Fighter services.”
Payout Perspective:
The lawsuit was filed on October 16th so one might expect a response by mid-November although the response will likely be a motion to dismiss from defendants. This is a compelling case because Mousasi claims that he was “warehoused” due (at least in part) to his pay per fight. It was inferred in the lawsuit that if he renegotiated his contract, he would be able to get a fight in the PFL. But Mousasi wanted his contract honored and his termination seemed like a pretext to get out from under the contract. He is an independent contractor, so some of the employment law legal arguments do not apply. We should hear from PFL as to why they froze Mousasi and/or he was unwilling to take fights. MPO will continue to follow.
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