News UFC Anti-Trust Lawsuit Has Been Settled and Will NOT Go To Trial Paying Out $335 Million

[Kb7]

IDK, article says 1,200 fighters so math says:
335,000,000 divided by 1,200 = 279k! Even if we take away a ton for lawyers and what not, each guy should get more than 200K if these numbers are correct.

Most of these fighters in that Lawsuit
couldv made 200k off one fight, IF they were any good at fighting in the first place. This lawsuit was
A money grab for the fighters nothing more. It's sad they settled because this will change nothing.

It just shows you these fighters were not in it to help each other,'it was because the possible outcome of cash they couldve made "billions" and jumped on it.

 

[CC27]

They were initially looking for anywhere from $894 million to $1.6 billion. Looks like TKO (UFC parent company) made a good deal. It isn't enough money, but it's something.

There were 1,200 fighters involved in the lawsuit, so that works out to about $280K per fighter. I would say the company got off light, to put it kindly.

To put things into perspective the TKO Group is looking to double the UFC's media rights fees, which are currently $300 million a year. If they sign a new deal, it'll likely be a 5 year, $2.4 to $3.0 billion dollar deal. This doesn't include the $105 million a year Bud Light is giving them, gate, UAE fees, tax breaks, site money and countless other deals.

The UFC just made $1.3 billion last year and $1.1 billion the year before.

This settlement is a drop in the bucket.

@Black9

I also updated the OP with quotes and the article. I can't stand a half assed OP, lol.

The damages also triple so if they got hit for the max 1.6 it would be 4.8 billion and if they got injunctive relief they could force UFC to change contracts and alter how they do business.

So just having to pay 335 mill with the money they are making these days its nothing, its crazy to me they settled. You spent 10 years on this, saying you want to not only get money but alter the UFC's business and they end up just taking 335 mill.

 

[Dr Guildo]

No one cares

 

[Kb7]

UFC paying out 300 million means a lot more cuts to the roster of guys with decent contracts and a lot more 10K to show Contender Series call ups

there's always PFL/Bellator, OneFC and Boxing to make those millions upon millions. The UFC is not the only org, people tend to forget that. Cory Anderson allegedly made more in Vellator than his entire UFC career.

 

[Kb7]

The damages also triple so if they got hit for the max 1.6 it would be 4.8 billion and if they got injunctive relief they could force UFC to change contracts and alter how they do business.

So just having to pay 335 mill with the money they are making these days its nothing, its crazy to me they settled. You spent 10 years on this, saying you want to not only get money but alter the UFC's business and they end up just taking 335 mill.

Because they hoodwinked the public into
Believing it was about the "fighters." It was bullshit from that start always have been a money grab by disgruntled ex fighters who never were amazing enough to earn top billing, it was very clear and anyone who wasn't a Dana White hater could see right through it. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there were fighters who actually wanted to change MMA pay structure and how they are treated like Nate Quarry who came off genuine, but Kajan Johnson, Leslie Smith, Chung Li all looked to be the former batch of disgruntled fighters who were in it for a money grab.

 

[Big Al's Texas BBQ]

What are you talking about? Companies absolutely do pay settlements to avoid the discovery process.

And many times companies settle out of court because it's cheaper, easier, and way faster. Even if they have nothing to hide, it's not worth it to go to trial.

 

[FreedomCricket]

The real winners are the lawyers.

Probably took 25% of that 335mil right off the top.

 

[taugrim]

They were initially looking for anywhere from $894 million to $1.6 billion. Looks like TKO (UFC parent company) made a good deal. It isn't enough money, but it's something.

There were 1,200 fighters involved in the lawsuit, so that works out to about $280K per fighter. I would say the company got off light, to put it kindly.

To put things into perspective the TKO Group is looking to double the UFC's media rights fees, which are currently $300 million a year. If they sign a new deal, it'll likely be a 5 year, $2.4 to $3.0 billion dollar deal. This doesn't include the $105 million a year Bud Light is giving them, gate, UAE fees, tax breaks, site money and countless other deals.

The UFC just made $1.3 billion last year and $1.1 billion the year before.

This settlement is a drop in the bucket.

Agreed.

If we pick the midpoint of the damages range, that's ~$1.25 billion.

They settled for $335 million, or roughly one-quarter of the estimated damages. That seems like a really good deal for the UFC's parent company. I'd guess that they dangled a high enough number to get enough of the fighters to be willing to take the money.

Also keep in mind that not only did the UFC avoid the risk of going to court, losing, having to pay a much higher amount, and having to cover very expensive attorney fees, the UFC also avoided all the negative publicity. In addition, as part of the settlement agreement the former fighters are probably going to be bound by confidentiality agreements from this point forward.

The other thing to keep in mind is that if the fighters attorneys were hired on contingency, they get a significant share of the settlement amount, e.g. 30%. So it won't be an average payout of $280k per fighter, it'd be more like $196k.

The old adage about lawyers being the only ones who really win in a settlement is true, because they get paid.

I'm glad for the fighters they got something, but it doesn't feel as significant an amount as it should have been.

EDIT: did some searching and found that in class action suits, attorneys charge ~30%, not the 40% I listed. Still, it's a lot.

 

[CC27]

The real winners are the lawyers.

Probably took 25% of that 335mil right off the top.

they are taking 1/3.

 

[Contempt]

So, after the vultures take their cut, there maybe just enough for each fighter to buy a happy meal.

I'd definitely call this a resounding win for the UFC.

 

[MGS]

Mark Hunt right now:

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

So, after the vultures take their cut, there maybe just enough for each fighter to buy a happy meal.

I'd definitely call this a resounding win for the UFC.

After the law firms standard cut of 40% pretrial settlement or 60% post trial, this equates to each of the 1200 plaintiffs getting about $170k if it's paid out equally among all of them.

This plus TKO being able to write this settlement off on their taxes is literally the best case scenario a corporation could get lol. The only people that made out better are the plaintiffs law firms, which will make off with about $134 million split between them.
This also ensures at least another 20 years of monopsony until another law firm and group of fighters sue again and we repeat the process et al or the fighters make a union.

If it's a 30% cut like others have posted, the fighters are only getting about $15k more.
So ten years for a below average car accident settlement for each fighter. Well worth the effort.

 

[PurpleStorm]

true if huge!

Large if big!

 

[StonedLemur]

I would have preferred trial as that would set a precedent for the future and perhaps change things completely

But that much money is nothing to sneeze at.

What fighters get it and how much?

I'm assuming the lawyers are gonna wind up with like half.

Each fighter gets about $225,000 and thats before lawyer costs...so basically they're getting fucked over again sir.

 

[Sms_productions713]

What are you talking about? Companies absolutely do pay settlements to avoid the discovery process.

Exactly! Doesn’t matter what the reason is for, true or false, they always pay to get out of it.

 

[El Fernas]

"We settled for $1.3B less than we asked for and are pleased with it"

And the UFC were the greedy ones lmao

Someone threw some numbers, its probable less than 100k for the fighters involved, or the ones that qualify, not sure how it works, it sounds like a lot in total, but 100´s of fighters are not getting rich from this, more like some extra bonus i would say.

 

[PurpleStorm]

Well that’s good news.

I didn’t ever believe there would be $1B+ resolution to the lawsuit.

And I was surprised by how many people actually wanted to see the UFC go under because of this. Clearly the UFC was in the wrong. But either you want the biggest org in the sport around. Or you want to settle for minor league orgs.

I don’t see how a real fan of mma would have wanted the UFC to go under. Every other mma org does the same things with their contracts, etc. why is it always the UFC that gets shit on?

The other promotions get plenty of flack in the worldwide section of this site.

 

[amok attitude]

Lmao you are crazy for a good part.
What you saw today is a huge company getting slapped in the face by 1200 fighters.
Its a huge win, believe me.
You dont grab hundreds of millions to these kind of greedy bastards without putting a good fight.
I dont know if it includes all the cases for all periods of time but its a good thing anyway.
And sure you dont have any ruling but with all the shit we know now about the ufc, i dont see why they wont bring another case till the ufc changes (a bit) its ways of doing business.

 

[Yep]

They thought the ufc didn’t pay them well. Wait till they see what’s left after the lawyers. What a joke

 

[kahiljabroni]

Is there anything stopping another group of fighters from bringing a similar case?