A group of former UFC fighters is trying to sue the promotion for billions of dollars.

In one of the sports industry’s potentially highest-profile lawsuits, in which a group of former fighters from the most famous and influential mixed martial arts promotion (MMA) UFC is trying to sue a former employer for billions of dollars, a major development has occurred: a start date for the hearing has been confirmed. They start on April 15th. The UFC’s attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed or at least postpone its consideration to a later date yielded nothing. This lawsuit was previously classified as a class action by a US court. The applicants accuse the UFC of abusing its dominant position in the MMA market, that is, violating antitrust laws. In a worst-case scenario for the UFC, the organization could face the need to pay nearly $5 billion to plaintiffs.

At the end of last week, an important development occurred in the already ten-year history of the litigation, which involves the UFC, on the one hand, and a number of former fighters of the promotion, on the other. Firstly, the parties filed written justifications for their positions in the Las Vegas court, where the case is being heard, and also provided lists of witnesses they intend to call. Secondly, the attempt by UFC lawyers to have the lawsuit dismissed even before the start of the trial with the participation of a jury yielded nothing. The court also did not agree with the request to postpone the trial to a later date. Judge Richard Boulware confirmed that the trial will start on April 15.

Let us note that a lot of money is at stake in this litigation. The lawsuit itself, as already mentioned, is old; for a long time, few people remembered it at all. It was submitted back in 2014 by a number of former UFC fighters, including not the most popular athletes, such as Chun Li (he has nine wins and three losses on his record) and Jon Fitch (28 wins, eight losses, two draws). The applicants accused the UFC of abusing its dominant position in the MMA market, that is, violating antitrust laws by intentionally establishing a monopsony (a market situation in which there is only one buyer and many competing sellers of goods or services).

The lawsuit was filed against Zuffa, the UFC’s parent company at the time. The plaintiffs allege that the UFC gobbled up other prominent promotions, including taking control of Pride and Strikeforce, and then exploited its increased influence. Directly for the fighters, according to the applicants, this resulted in an artificial reduction in fees. In conditions of decreased competition, they had to agree to a decrease in earnings. The lawsuit alleges that other major sports leagues typically allocate about half of their revenue to athlete incentives. In the UFC, fighters received no more than 20%. True, in leagues where athletes actually receive half of the income generated by championships, there are unions and, as a result, collective agreements. There is no union in the UFC. Its creation, the plaintiffs claim, was hampered by the fact that the fighters are not employees of the UFC, but work as independent contractors.

The lawsuit was given new life only last summer when Judge Richard Boulware ruled that it would be classified as a class action and also agreed that the case would involve a violation of antitrust laws. According to the court decision, up to 1.2 thousand athletes who worked for the UFC between December 16, 2010 and June 30, 2017 can join the lawsuit. At the same time, according to American laws, potential victims of UFC’s illegal actions are not required to join the lawsuit. All persons meeting the court’s criteria will automatically be included in the list of recipients of compensation. However, they can refuse this by submitting an appropriate application.

As for the financial claims made by the plaintiffs, they vary widely – from $811 million to $1.6 billion. But the court’s support for the antimonopoly essence of the claim potentially threatens a threefold increase in payments – up to $4.8 billion. It is not surprising that the UFC brought in Four law firms are working on the case at once. The plaintiffs make do with the services of only one.

The process promises to be long, given that the UFC has shown no signs that it could agree to an out-of-court settlement. The UFC’s latest statement on the case notes that “courts should not become economic planning centers and allow workers who have entered into contracts of their own volition, with the advice of managers and lawyers, to abuse antitrust laws and demand more than what is owed under the contract.”

We would like to add that the UFC is currently controlled by Endeavor Group Holdings. In the spring of 2023, it also acquired World Wrestling Entertainment, a structure that develops the popular wrestling show in America – a show based on techniques from martial arts, as a result of which the capitalization of the combined group exceeded $20 billion. Endeavor’s income for the last fiscal year 2022/23 (ended in March last year) amounted to more than $5 billion.

Alexander Petrov