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

Though I support the UFC, they just dodged some huge punishment.

If these lawsuits went to trial Joe Silva & other top execs would go to jail for what they did to fighters they didn't like, and/or wouldn't conform to their commands
 
So each fighter made roughly 200k after taxes the 1200 apart of it
 
Nathan LaMontagne said:
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.
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Over 1000 fighters on this lawsuit. Lol. They are getting peanuts and pretty much just lost any momentum they had for fighters pay being increased at all. Settling here was by far the dumbest shit they could have done.
 
In case anyone missed Nate Quarry's comments on this topic:

https://www.mmamania.com/2024/3/21/...accepted-settlement-wish-we-couldve-done-more
“Right now there’s a lot I can’t say,” he wrote. “With that, moving forward this way seemed to be the best option.

“No, we didn’t get everything we wanted,” he admitted. “Our goal all along was to change the sport. However, we had quite a few delays that we had to deal with. And to get injunctive relief, ie. change the sport, we would have had to refile both lawsuits and combine them, go through discovery all over again, retake depositions, about a five-year delay and then hope we get granted class action status again.

“We’d be looking at another 10 years just to be where we are today with no guarantee of winning any punitive amount of injunctive change,” Quarry continued. “As I said, weighing all the possible outcomes this seemed the best outcome. We’re not hi-fiving one another. But we are pleased that a lot of fighters are going to be getting some compensation for being underpaid. Wish we could’ve done more.”
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“It’s very easy to sit in the cheap seats and criticize,” Quarry noted at the end of his statement. “Once you step into the ring, once you taste your own blood, your whole world changes and you’re a little more understanding of those who attempt greatness. Even when they fall short.

“And for those that have cheering us on, thank you for your support,” he concluded. “I can’t say much more than that. Thank you. We didn’t get all that we wanted but we will be able to help some guys that are hurting now.”
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I've always been of the thought that fighters will never get their due because they are always out for themselves. Not sure if many know the entirety of the case. I'll give the cliff notes. The older fighters bound together stating they wanted to make change against the bad buisness practices the UFC utilized on them by a lawsuit. Many fighters came together but a lot signed a contract halft way through the lawsuit saying they couldn't act as plaintiffs on it. I'm pretty sure they had no clue what they signed obviously. Not sure what the year range was but basically the older fighters were eligible as beneficiaries because they fought in the UFC before they started embedding this clause in their contract. The UFC threw chump change (for the UFC) at the left over older fighters and they folded. I get a lot of them are older and might not have much monetary oppurtunities but the beneficiaries left were based off of career earnings during the early period. So fighters like Jon Fitch who were the higher earners get a better percentage. Keep in mind after the split it would be basically his purse for his biggest UFC payday. All these fighters saying they want to make change took hush money to make none. I feel like some of the media are taking this as a win without knowing the legal system. If they kept going it would have a chance to make change because it would go to court with evidence of contact deals, text messages, etc. But they took the 100k to shut up. Not sure how anyone can ever side for the fighters anymore since the old guard who said they would fight threw down thier shields for this.
 
MMAProfessional said:
I've always been of the thought that fighters will never get their due because they are always out for themselves. Not sure if many know the entirety of the case. I'll give the cliff notes. The older fighters bound together stating they wanted to make change against the bad buisness practices the UFC utilized on them by a lawsuit. Many fighters came together but a lot signed a contract halft way through the lawsuit saying they couldn't act as plaintiffs on it. I'm pretty sure they had no clue what they signed obviously. Not sure what the year range was but basically the older fighters were eligible as beneficiaries because they fought in the UFC before they started embedding this clause in their contract. The UFC threw chump change (for the UFC) at the left over older fighters and they folded. I get a lot of them are older and might not have much monetary oppurtunities but the beneficiaries left were based off of career earnings during the early period. So fighters like Jon Fitch who were the higher earners get a better percentage. Keep in mind after the split it would be basically his purse for his biggest UFC payday. All these fighters saying they want to make change took hush money to make none. I feel like some of the media are taking this as a win without knowing the legal system. If they kept going it would have a chance to make change because it would go to court with evidence of contact deals, text messages, etc. But they took the 100k to shut up. Not sure how anyone can ever side for the fighters anymore since the old guard who said they would fight threw down thier shields for this.
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I will side with the fighters 100% of the time to get fairer contracts, to get paid better, and to receive better benefits.

Why should I give a shit if the organization runs less in the black than it already does? They won't dip into the red, they will always end up on the profitable end. It the degree or amount of profit that irks the fuck out of me. You can't convince me for one second they are running that slim of a profit margin they will go bankrupt and fold if they pay the fighters better. It's all horseshit.

While I am disappointed the lawsuit didn't progress, and yes I firmly believe it was a necessary step to actually bring about real change (and not just UFC propaganda), I understand the complexities of what it was going to take to keep going forward. Enduring another 5-10 years in litigation and trial is a lot to ask anyone to swallow, and most fighters that have exited the UFC aren't sitting on fat bank accounts they can ride out.

One thing is clear... I think guys like Ngannou, Perry, Diaz... fighters who found ways to earn outside of the UFC might have made the right career moves. The fighters need something or someone to advocate for them if they can't do it properly for themselves during negotiations. It was one of the things Ngannou asked for when renegotiating his end with the UFC, and Daddy Dana shot that down too fast. No way he wants to do business with a proper businessman or lawyer, he wants to deal direct with the guys who get punched in the head for a living.
 
Here is the problem in a nutshell:

The only fighters with sufficient power to have a shot at affecting any actual change are the guys who are making big money.

And IF they actually stick their neck out and try to exert the little bit of leverage they have in their BRIEF period in which they have to earn money from this sport, after having clawed their way to the top, they are nearly guaranteed to get screwed over by the UFC and best case get horrible matchmaking and cut at the first possible chance and then their earning window is basically closed.

The MASSES of underpaid fighters have no pull at all because they are replaceable.


Thus far only really Francis has been willing to fight against the UFC machine while he was in his earning prime and already and established 6 figures per fight guy.
 
if they were dumb and vulnerable enough to sign those contracts they were absolutely likely to be manipulated into a hush deal.
 
The messed up thing is that the mob's boxing guys, don king etc get looked at as crooks but they have nothing on the UFC lmao.

The Fertiti Family hustled the fighting game/fighters in a way other mob families could only have dreamed of.
 
what do you expect? it’s prize fighting, not politics. all these guys ever wanted was a payday, despite what some of them say. and it’s all just as well, frankly, because they likely made in the ufc more than they were ever going to make anywhere else, notwithstanding the challenged business practices. and now they’re going to get even more as a result of this lawsuit. so of course the vast majority of those fighters are happy. they should be.

underlying all of this is, from what i can tell, is personal distaste for the ufc, specifically dana white, because he is a prick. the grievance was essentially “fuck the ufc, because they’re assholes.” many people have difficulty distinguishing between bad business practices and bad business experiences. well, that’s not going to change, even without dana saying inflammatory things. the attitude of these people (i’m generalizing) is “fight the power,” “stick it to the man,” etc. they’ll always think ufc is evil, because it’s a business, and they have more bargaining power in the negotiation. they’re happy if the ufc burns, even if it means mma as a whole suffers, because they didn’t build it. their political views reflect that, as do their communities.

glad it’s over. glad ufc is still around. glad the right people are upset about it. moving on.
 
The UFC paying 335 million dollars might be fair for those involved in the lawsuit.
But the roster as a whole is laughable under payed.
Maybe a win for those former fighters but still so far a loss for the current roster.
 
Rights are rights even for like fighters. I'm a bit disappointed they chose the bag instead of fighting but eh.

I don't side with the fighters on contract matters because "they deserve it" but because every worker should get a fair share of the profits. Many, or most, of them are mercenary scumbags, yeah they are, but they should still get treated justly.
 
As a Sherdog regular I was surprised to hear about this from an outside source.

www.espn.com.au

UFC, plaintiffs settle class-action suits for $335M

TKO Holdings, the UFC's parent company, has reached a $335 million settlement in a pair of class action antitrust lawsuits filed by fighters seeking better pay.
www.espn.com.au www.espn.com.au


Details beyond the settlement sum seem vety6 hard to come by but sounds like good news for fighters as their contracts were obviously contrary to free market principles.

Any ideas how this will change things going forward??
 
HeffDoesWant said:
Details beyond the settlement sum seem vety6 hard to come by but sounds like good news for fighters as their contracts were obviously contrary to free market principles.

Any ideas how this will change things going forward??
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Are you for real? Sad if true. This says absolutely nothing about fighter contracts or anything at all. It went exactly like all these class action cases go. The lawyers and principle plaintiff collect a huge bag while laughing at the "class members" that will get nothing. Are you actually naive enough to think this was about them fighting for some greater cause?

What changes going forward is Cung Lee and his lawyers pocket a huge amount of money, TKO stock gets a good bump because they no longer have to account for that potential $1.6B+ burden, and they face no further contract lawsuits from fighters because even though most of them didn't even know this was happening they were part of the "class" and they didn't specifically exclude themselves therefore waived their individual rights.
 
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