After a $335 million dollar settlement agreed upon by the UFC (and parent company TKO Group) and plaintiffs in two antitrust lawsuits was rejected by a Nevada judge earlier this year, a new deal has been struck.
This time around, the UFC has come to terms on a settlement with the plaintiffs in the first of two lawsuits alleging they used unfair business practices to suppress fighter pay, among other allegations. That suit was initiated by former fighters including Cung Le, Jon Fitch, and Nate Quarry, and dates back to 2014. News of the new deal was revealed via a recent SEO filing (h/t Fightful).
“On September 26, 2024, TKO reached an agreement with the plaintiffs to settle all claims asserted in the Le case for an aggregate amount of $375 million payable in installments over an agreed-upon period of time by the Company and its subsidiaries (the “Updated Settlement Agreement”), following the court’s denial of an earlier proposed settlement agreement,” the filing wrote in part. “The terms of the Updated Settlement Agreement have been memorialized in a long form agreement, which will be submitted to the court for approval. The Company anticipates that the settlement amount will be deductible for tax purposes.”
Of course, that leaves the suit between the UFC and fighters in a later class period, brought about by former fighters Kajan Johnson and C.B. Dollaway, still to be dealt with. The Johnson case, nearly identical to the initial lawsuit by Le et al, essentially served as a continuation of the original’s class period, covering a time period starting in 2017 and extending into 2021 (the original lawsuit covered fighters competing for the UFC between 2010 and 2017).
The new settlement agreement will still need to be signed off on by a judge. U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware, who rejected the initial settlement back in July, has set a date of February 3, 2025 should the matter head to trial.
Update, 11:50AM ET: Story updated to correct the new trial date of Feb. 3 2025.
