There was a development Thursday regarding an ongoing antitrust lawsuit filed against the UFC with a new nine-figure settlement figure being proposed.
The UFC’s ownership group, TKO Group Holdings, announced a new agreement to settle an antitrust lawsuit between former fighters and the mixed martial arts organization after a previous agreement was rejected by Judge Richard Boulware of the U.S. District Court of Nevada in late July.
“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,” a disclosure filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) read. “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.”
The initial settlement agreement from March was set to pay out a total of $335 million to a group including more than 1,200 former UFC athletes.
The primary lawsuit (Le et al. v. Zuffa, LLC) was originally filed by former UFC and Strikeforce star Cung Le in 2014 and later consolidated with other similar lawsuits. It essentially argued the UFC violated the Sherman Act and engaged in a scheme to acquire and maintain a monopsony within the sport.
This new agreement does not include a similar but separate lawsuit (Johnson et al. v. Zuffa, LLC) filed by Canadian fighter Kajan Johnson in 2021 that had been included in the original $335-million settlement agreement.
“We have reached a revised agreement with Plaintiffs to settle the Le case with terms that we believe address Judge Boulware's stated concerns,” the UFC statement read. “While we believe the original settlement was fair – a sentiment that was also shared by Plaintiffs – we feel it is in the best interest of all parties to bring this litigation to a close.”
It remains to be seen whether this new proposed agreement will be approved by the judge and what exactly will happen with the Johnson lawsuit, which was not mentioned in the SEC filing.
Combat sports reporter John S. Nash, who has been following the case, noted the original proposed payout that was rejected was set to pay out “90 per cent for Le and this is 100 per cent for Le so (the new proposed payout is) about $75 million more with Johnson allowed to continue and possible seek injunctive relief.”
Judge Boulware rejected the initial settlement agreement expressing concerns that the damages to be paid out were not sufficient. If this latest proposal is also rejected and the case goes to trial, the fighters aka plaintiffs would require a unanimous jury verdict to receive any damages.
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