The UFC has suffered what you might consider a legal knockdown in their ongoing antitrust court battle.
The antitrust lawsuit brought about by former fighters including Jon Fitch, Cung Le, and others was granted class certification earlier this year, after the judge presiding over the case had previously indicated class status was likely.
That led to an appeal by the UFC, a widely expected move in a case that was launched back in 2014.
On Wednesday, Le, a former Strikeforce fighter as well as having fought in the UFC, announced the news on social media. “The 9th Circuit has denied the UFC’s request to appeal our class certification order,” wrote Le. “On to trial! We are making progress in court. We now need Sen. Mullin’s help to get us the same legal protections as boxers which allows them to compete in sport!”
The lawsuit covers “all persons who competed in one or more live professional UFC-promoted MMA bouts taking place or broadcast in the United States from December 16, 2010, to June 30, 2017,” per the UFC Class Action website. It could see the company, owned and operated by Zuffa for the bulk of that period, on the hook for upwards of 800 million dollars in damages, up to 1.6 billion.
Roughly 1,200 fighters would be covered by the class action and eligible for payouts, were the case to succeed.
“At trial, the Class Representatives plan to show that if the UFC had not violated the antitrust laws, the fighters would have received 50% or more of the revenues from MMA events,” per the plaintiffs. “That is similar to the percentage of revenues boxers receive, as do athletes in the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB. UFC MMA fighters, in contrast, get paid only about 20% of event revenues. The fighters seek to recover the difference in pay as damages.”
Trial dates for the case are expected as early as March.
