The UFC has reached a settlement agreement that will close out two anti-trust lawsuits, and avoid going to trial.
A disclosure was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday by TKO Group Holdings reporting the settlement. TKO Group Holdings, who owns the UFC, settled the two lawsuits for $335 million.
As part of the filing TKO wrote:
“On March 13, 2024, TKO reached an agreement to settle all claims asserted in both class action lawsuits (Le and Johnson) for an aggregate amount of $335 million payable by the Company and it’s subsidiaries in installments over an agree-upon period of time.
The terms will be memorialized in a long form agreement and then submitted to the court for approval. The Company anticipates that the settlement amount will be deductible for tax purposes.”
Cung Le and Kajan Johnson are the fighters referenced in the statement filed with the SEC. Nate Quarry was also involved in the anti-trust suit.
Previous estimates on damages that could have been awarded should the plaintiffs be successful in trial reach up to a possible $1.6 billion.
The judge still needs to sign off on the agreement for it to become official. Once it’s signed the lawsuits will close and the UFC will avoid a likely long trial.
