The ongoing (for nearly a decade now) antitrust lawsuit against the UFC just took a major step forward.
The case, launched by former UFC stars Jon Fitch, Nate Quarry, and Cung Le in 2014, has officially been granted class certification as of Wednesday. News of the certification was first reported by combat sports attorney Erik Magraken, who noted that it had appeared even a few years ago that class status was likely. Reports from 2020 noted the judge in the case had announced class status — but a written ruling, expected to be forthcoming, was never issued at the time.
An additional report by ESPN states that Federal judge Richard F. Boulware granted the plaintiffs class certification, citing a document obtained from the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.
The class period covers Dec. 16, 2010, to June 30, 2017 — meaning in short that anyone fighting for the UFC between those dates would potentially be covered by the lawsuit, in terms of any damaged owed were it to be successful.
Fighters, roughly 1,200 of them in total, have the option of opting out of the suit.
The UFC intends to appeal Wednesday’s decision, per ESPN, and it will likely be several more years before any outcome is reached in the case.
“We look forward to demonstrating our allegations that the UFC has abused its market power to suppress fighter pay before a jury in Las Vegas,” Eric Cramer, an antitrust lawyer representing the complainants, said on social media following the certification. “The fight for fighter justice continues!”
The lawsuit alleges that the UFC employed anti-competitive tactics to stifle competition and keep fighter salaries artificially low during the class period. The plaintiffs in the case are seeking upwards of one billion dollars in compensation.
As Magraken noted in reporting the news, the court “found on a preponderance of evidence that the UFC had used ruthless and coercive practices,” including oppressive contracts, ruthless tactics outside of contracts, and had bought up competition not to improve the promotion, but to eliminate alternative options for fighters.
For those who have followed the various submissions in the case, among early evidence submitted was the infamous “Pride is dead dummy! I killed them!!!” line from UFC President Dana White, lashing out at a fan of the defunct Japanese promotion. In the mid-2000s, PRIDE was a superior force in the MMA landscape, but were eventually bought out by the UFC. A photo of White holding a mock tombstone listing all the promotions he had killed off over the years — EliteXC, Affliction, and IFL — was also submitted to the court.
Of note, the judge on Wednesday did not certify the “identity class” portion of the lawsuit. That argument claimed the UFC had suppressed licensing fees associated with identity rights — for example, for fighters appearing in UFC branded video games.
