October 23, 2024
After a decade of litigation, MMA fighters will receive “life changing” money.
WASHINGTON, DC– Last night, a Nevada federal court granted preliminary approval of a landmark $375 million settlement between a certified class of elite professional mixed martial art (MMA) fighters and Zuffa, LLC dba Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Pending final approval, the settlement will resolve claims in Le, et al. v. Zuffa, LLC, the first of two wage suppression antitrust class actions against UFC.
The settlement resolves claims that for years the UFC engaged in an anticompetitive scheme to suppress compensation for elite MMA fighters. Specifically, the fighters claimed that, among other things, the UFC unlawfully eliminated competition from rival MMA promoters and maintained and unlawfully enhanced its monopsony power in the market for MMA fighter services.
“First, I must commend the MMA fighters who helped expose UFC’s anticompetitive behavior by bringing this lawsuit. Becoming an elite MMA fighter is a dream come true for many athletes. However, the reality is that it’s a brutal business. Under UFC, many fighters were left broken and broke. The settlement we helped MMA fighters achieve recovers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost compensation from the UFC,” said Benjamin D. Brown, managing partner of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and co-chair of its Antitrust practice.
“We are extremely pleased by the court’s decision. It is a monumental achievement that will provide significant relief to hundreds of deserving MMA fighters,” said Eric L. Cramer, chairman of Berger Montague and co-chair of its Antitrust department. “We honor our brave representative plaintiffs who fought for this result for ten years. And we look forward to pursuing significant business changes and more damages in our second antitrust case against the UFC.”
Plaintiffs claimed that as UFC got stronger, due to restrictive fighter contracts, it was able buy up competition, such as World Fighting Alliance in 2006, World Extreme Cagefighting in 2006, and Strike Force in 2011, thereby becoming the only option for fighters to work. Plaintiffs claimed that 90% of elite professional MMA fighters were eventually under contract with UFC.
First filed in 2014, Le, et al. v. Zuffa LLC, 2:15-cv-1045 (D. Nev.), faced years of litigation in court. In 2021, other MMA fighters filed a second class action, Johnson, et al. v. Zuffa, LLC, et al., No. 2:21-cv-1189 (D. Nev.). In August 2023, after nearly a decade of litigation, the court certified the “bout class” in the Le case. In its 80-page ruling, the court detailed the “anticompetitive, coercive conduct” and nature of “Zuffa’s exclusionary contracts and their restrictive terms.”
The plaintiffs are represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, Berger Montague, and The Joseph Saveri Law Firm.
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