Fighters involved in Le vs. Zuffa will begin to file for payouts after Judge Richard Boulware gave final approval for a $375 million settlement in their antitrust lawsuit against the UFC.
The judgement ends the 11-year lawsuit seeking damages for over 150 fighters involved in the lawsuit including Cung Le, Nate Quarry, Kyle Kingsbury and Jon Fitch.
The original settlement amount was set at $335 million, but was struck down by Boulware. In October he preliminarily approved the $375 million settlement following many personal testimonies from fighters on how the money would help them.
Lead attorney for the fighters, Eric Cramer, told MMAFighting back in October that the settlement agreement would be a relief for fighters waiting for help.
“It is a monumental achievement that will get significant relief to hundreds of deserving MMA fighters. We honor our brave representative plaintiffs who fought for this result for ten years,” Cramer said.
“And we look forward to pursuing significant business changes and more damages in our second antitrust case against the UFC.”
Some of the testimonies were rather rough to read including one by former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin.
“I face serious challenges in meeting basic everyday expenses for food, shelter and transportation and in basic life skills necessary to function. his would truly be life-changing money for me and for other members of the class,” he wrote.
This won’t end trips to court for the UFC just yet. The pending Johnson vs. Zuffa case was supposed to be included in the settlement, but instead looks to be heading to a possible trial.
Le vs. Zuffa covered fighters who took part in the UFC from 2010 to 2017.
