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

[PurpleStorm]

Wouldn't a settlement mean they thought they WERE going to lose?

For both parties it's about weighing the risk versus the reward. It would take a lot of fortitude and a high degree of certainty of the strength of the claim, both on a legal and a factual basis, to want to risk going all the way to trial.

Bear in mind the court is pushing both sides to settle. For one party the risk is treble damages and leaving it in the hands of a jury. For another it's the risk that appeals can drag on for years.

 

[froggyluv]

Remember when Dana White first tested the waters of his tough guy image by calling his Ultimate Fighter contenstants "Pussies"? He realized then and there that these was some broke ass muthaflippahs who he could fully shit on without fear of retribution. Later the UFC had those mega-church, Tony Robbins-like self help seminars "If youse could just act a little more like Conor, you too can be rich !!" and then threw some chips at em

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Well the chickens come home to roost ya cock

 

[David Street]

Frankly did not think they had a case, monopoly is not illegal and UFC never had one anyway. But I guess UFC did enough bad shit to make them worry. Now UFC can buy PFL or not LOL...

 

[italiamusica]

Huh...I thought the whole point was to go to trial to expose all the bullshit the UFC does, but they took the easy money and ran with it?

 

[Dana's Conscience]

thats a huge win for UFC, they were talking about over a billion and then its multiplied and contract changes that can only keep fighters two years etc. So just having to pay 335 mill is a steal.

The plaintiffs in this case dropped all the injunctive relief stuff and pushed it to the Kajan Johnson case. The only thing that was directly on the line here was money. However, had the plaintiffs won in a trial here, it would set legal precedent. It would have helped the Johnson case, which is the one that has potential to change the industry.

 

[CorninginChristianburg]

Some UFC fans are ridiculous. This is not a "Drop in the bucket" to any profit motivated company. There was never any realism to a damages cap of 1.6 billion. But anything to characterize it as a "UFC win."

My assessment was that the fighters had a weak legal case. I am surprised that the UFC settled, and that they settled for a not insignificant amount (if true). The individual fighters are going to make away with significant amounts of money (compared to their lifetime earnings). This potentially invites future actors to do the same thing down the line, knowing the UFC will likely settle.

 

[Siver!]

For both parties it's about weighing the risk versus the reward. It would take a lot of fortitude and a high degree of certainty of the strength of the claim, both on a legal and a factual basis, to want to risk going all the way to trial.

Bear in mind the court is pushing both sides to settle. For one party the risk is treble damages and leaving it in the hands of a jury. For another it's the risk that appeals can drag on for years.

I'm going through exactly the same thing at the moment, to be honest.

Some private parking company wanted to saddle me with a £100 fine, so I'm currently calling their bluff.

The stakes are kinda approximate IMO, both of us stand to lose multiple £20 notes.

The only dialogue I sent to them was to thank them for their 'invoice' (it's an equivalent in UK law) and that I wouldn't be paying.

I'm ready for a small claims court, though, I'm going all the way.

Balls in their court.

They should've hired me as a consultant, I have nerves of steel

 

[JosephTessaro]

Lawyer's get about 1/3 in a standard settlement. I'm not sure how it differs in a class action, but that's a safe jump off. Also, that's going to be taxable income.

So if we take 335 mil divided by 1,200 plaintifs you're looking at about 279k each on average. Then take out 1/3 in taxes and 1/3 for the lawyers and they're down to about 92k each (back of the napkin numbers).

It's a very big win for the law firm and the IRS. But for guys like Fitch, and Cung Le that's less than their show money when they were fighting.

Still, they stood up to UFC and won. They made them treat athletes better and I'm sure that's worth something to them as well.

yep and the only thing I can think of but don't know is some fighters may get more of the pie based on how many fights they had in the organization that joined the suit?

 

[jsbx45]

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.

Lawyers will receive 330M. Each of the fighters in the class will receive a check for 27.93$. Justice has been served people!

 

[xhaydenx]

I'm going through exactly the same thing at the moment, to be honest.

Some private parking company wanted to saddle me with a £100 fine, so I'm currently calling their bluff.

The stakes are kinda approximate IMO, both of us stand to lose multiple £20 notes.

The only dialogue I sent to them was to thank them for their 'invoice' (it's an equivalent in UK law) and that I wouldn't be paying.

I'm ready for a small claims court, though, I'm going all the way.

Balls in their court.

Mark Hunt should've hired me as a consultant, I have nerves of steel

I defeated a major bookie myself, actually.

Cunts thought they weren't going to pay out on a multi. They were quite smug about it in our correspondence.

Took me 18 months but they caved in and paid me the full 12.5k right before it was going to go to a commission trial which they knew they were gonna lose.

The fighters should have hired me. I'd have taken the UFC for the whole lot, not a few hundred million. Would have literally scooped up the snow in Dana's drive way and sold it right in front of him to show him who is king.

 

[Siver!]

I defeated a major bookie myself, actually.

Cunts thought they weren't going to pay out on a multi. They were quite smug about it in our correspondence.

Took me 18 months but they caved in and paid me the full 12.5k right before it was going to go to a commission trial which they knew they were gonna lose.

The fighters should have hired me. I'd have taken the UFC for the whole lot, not a few hundred million. Would have literally scooped up the snow in Dana's drive way and sold it right in front of him to show him who is king.

Nice!

That's a good win!

Out of interest, would it have made a difference if you rejected the 12.5k up front and insisted on a trial instead? Would you have lost money even with the win?

Because otherwise, I might have preferred to inflict the defeat!

 

[Dr Fong]

Some UFC fans are ridiculous. This is not a "Drop in the bucket" to any profit motivated company. There was never any realism to a damages cap of 1.6 billion. But anything to characterize it as a "UFC win."

My assessment was that the fighters had a weak legal case. I am surprised that the UFC settled, and that they settled for a not insignificant amount (if true). The individual fighters are going to make away with significant amounts of money (compared to their lifetime earnings). This potentially invites future actors to do the same thing down the line, knowing the UFC will likely settle.

The immediate celebratory mood from UFC shills show how much they can control the narrative. To spin this into a 100% victory is downright absurd. 330 million is still 330 million that they were penny pinching from fighters.

The idea that such a settlement is 'proof the fighters had no case' is such retarded reasoning that it's not worth taking seriously. The fact it has already taken 10 years is reason enough for the fighters to have been pressured enough to cave.

No doubt this is a really bad day for current fighters in the short and medium term. But the idea that this is some unqualified, absolute triumph for the UFC is ridiculous.

They are still vulnerable to losing massive dollars for similar reasons in the future.

And now, the movement towards fighter rights can focus on political battles for regulatory changes, which is a of course a massive uphill fight itself. But one that has a clearer path to change than relying on the glacial pace of a legal system fundamentally rigged in favor of big money at every step.

 

[nonoob]

No admission of ufc doing anything wrong, plus silence from all fighters.

 

[xhaydenx]

Nice!

That's a good win!

Out of interest, would it have made a difference if you rejected the 12.5k up front and insisted on a trial instead? Would you have lost money even with the win?

Because otherwise, I might have preferred to inflict the defeat!

Nah, wouldn't have made a difference. They were losing either way.

When they rang me up to offer their surrender I literally laughed at them and was taunting them. Telling them they were lucky I didn't let it go to the hearing where they'd have to just pay lawyer fees to lose lol. Told them to just keep the vault open because I'd be coming to make another withdrawal during next weekend's UFC card haha.

 

[Siver!]

Nah, wouldn't have made a difference. They were losing either way.

When they rang me up to offer their surrender I literally laughed at them and was taunting them. Telling them they were lucky I didn't let it go to the hearing where they'd have to just pay lawyer fees to lose lol. Told them to just keep the vault open because I'd be coming to make another withdrawal during next weekend's UFC card haha.

I guess the difference is you challenged them?

Every time a company with a bit of finance tries to strongarm someone, they're just gambling on the uneven playing field, intimidation etc.

I've resolved to defend myself to the end every single time from now on haha, but I'd have to be on super secure ground to reverse the tables!

 

[markantony20]

that sucks man I get the guys taking the money but this really doesn’t help the fighters not involved with this particular lawsuit.

the court system seemed more than willing to let this lawsuit go on for another 10 years.


Courts are so stacked against the individual.

 

[CerebralKnievel]

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.

It would be distributed amongst all of the people who'd signed up, which apparently is some 1200 fighters. I'd assume the lawyers will take a third to half.

 

[Siver!]

It would be distributed amongst all of the people who'd signed up, which apparently is some 1200 fighters. I'd assume the lawyers will take a third to half.

Close to 200,000 each.

 

[CerebralKnievel]

Close to 200,000 each.

No need to reiterate what's already been identified in the thread, but I'll say it anyway - this is a minor penance and shows that the lawyers and lead plaintiffs in the case just went for a cash grab rather than really help to bring about any change regarding what they claimed to be fighting against. Pretty lame.

 

[jx820]

No need to reiterate what's already been identified in the thread, but I'll say it anyway - this is a minor penance and shows that the lawyers and lead plaintiffs in the case just went for a cash grab rather than really help to bring about any change regarding what they claimed to be fighting against. Pretty lame.

The UFC has had to kill the championship clause, and add a sunset clause directly in response to these cases. The widely reported 18% revenue share was only made public due to these cases.

Conversely the money the fighters actually got out of this works out to about 10 grand of takehome per year of being tied up in the case.

It may have been a cash grab for the lawyers, but that's a given. They're hired guns.

For the fighters, they got some meaningful changes implemented that will positively effect future generations of fighters. We've already seen guys like Francis and Nate "sunset" out. Francis even left with the belt. It never could have happened if these guys didn't sue. We've seen the discovery from these cases cited in attempts at labor organization. They got more done for the fighters than all the agents and managers combined.