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.

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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.

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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.

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The New York Times and other media outlets reported Thursday that U.S. District of Nevada Judge Richard Boulware has certified class status for the lawsuit — meaning over 1,000 fighters who competed for the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion between 2010 and 2017 will be represented in the suit, unless they choose to opt out.

The lawsuit, which alleges that the UFC abused its monopoly in MMA to suppress fighter pay, was originally brought by a handful of former fighters including Jon Fitch, Nate Quarry, and Cung Le. The suit was initially filed in 2014.

Boulware did not issue a written ruling in announcing the class certification, but one is expected come Monday. Additionally, he declined to grant class status to an additional claim that the UFC abused its power to suppress earnings from athletes’ image rights.

However, with the primary claim certified, the UFC finds itself under fire. The promotion previously hinted they would appeal any class certification, and that is expected moving forward. Should that appeal fail, they have the option to settle the suit — which may be preferable than going to trial, given the plaintiffs alleged that athletes were shortchanged to the tune of $1.6 billion between 2010 and 2017 because of the UFC’s anti-competitive actions.

A primary concern for the UFC, and motivator to settle, could come from the specter of treble damages being awarded should the plaintiffs prove their case. Treble damages amount to up to three times the actual damages being awarded in certain civil cases, including antitrust cases.

Beginning in 2006, the UFC bought, folded, and absorbed competing promotions including PRIDE, the WEC, and Strikeforce. They signed away rival promotion’s stars, and while taking advantage of free agency isn’t problematic in its own right, UFC President Dana White staging a photograph with a mock tombstone featuring the names of promotions he helped drive out of business certainly didn’t help the UFC’s image.

While the modern MMA scene offers competing promotions like Bellator, ONE Championship, RIZIN, the PFL, and KSW, it’s important to note that many of these were not viable alternatives during the class period of 2010 to 2017.

The most telling aspect of the ongoing case, however, has always been the numbers at its core. Most major professional sports leagues have athletes taking home around 50 percent of total revenue. The UFC has historically managed to keep fighters below 20 percent.

That’s a figure that had even current UFC star Jorge Masvidal speaking out earlier this year.

Following the judge’s ruling, former UFC fighter Nate Quarry took to social media to give his take. “I can’t convey how big this is for the sport of MMA,” Quarry wrote. “Thank you to our whole team that’s been working on this for over five years and to the other plaintiffs I’m honored to stand beside. We’re one step closer to fighters having a seat at the table.”

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