News Fighters including Wanderlei Silva, Shane Carwin, write letters of support for UFC antitrust lawsuit settlement: ‘I desperately need these funds now'

All of these letters were clearly written by a lawyer...
Agreed. The Wanderlei one especially. His English was still at "I will knock out heem" level after 20 years in the game.
 
Carwin had like 30 minutes of combined fight time in his entire career, was never KO'd and only ever really took punishment in his final fight. If anything is bothering him in later life its probably the after affects of being roided to shit when he was fighting.
No it's was the height cutting that took a toll on his body. It takes years off your life cutting from 6.5 to 6.2
 
Cung Le was a darling of the promotion for a good while, fought in big PPVs, had several movie roles, some substantial personal sponsors, is still a big name for seminars … and just a few years from retirement is having friends helping him for food and shelter otherwise he’d be on the streets???

Regardless of the lawsuit and relatively poor UFC pay, it seems like complete personal financial mismanagement.

He should at the very least own a home, a car, a gym, and have a little extra aside. Absolute minimum given his career.
Yea i love Cung Le and am a fan but it's hard to believe he didn't manage to save anything and is living off others.

I mean how can you ultimately blame the UFC for that. And I'm no UFC shill I feel they can pay more. But you know what you signed up for.
 
Can someone help me connect the dots here (I haven't followed it too much TBH). It seems a lot of the fighters are addressing the lawsuit money for their health concerns, but the lawsuit is involving anti-trust violations? Is there some parallel between the two?
 
Can someone help me connect the dots here (I haven't followed it too much TBH). It seems a lot of the fighters are addressing the lawsuit money for their health concerns, but the lawsuit is involving anti-trust violations? Is there some parallel between the two?

If I'm understanding correctly, these letters are to compel the judge to approve the settlement. They aren't blaming UFC or trying to get personal injury money from them.
 
Had they held out they could've easily received 5 times that amount and been truly taken care of.
When they accepted the first offer given I knew they were fucking themselves, and so did the judge.
They're not making the impact that they said they were going to.

The UFC is laughing at this amount.
Truth be told their lawyers likely are a big part of that first offer being accepted. They just want their guaranteed payout
 
Tough read.

Thought Carwin had a good Engineering job.
he does and by the looks of his socials dudes living well. It’s all a money grab, the lawyers hoodwinked those fighters into believing they can get millions upon millions. That’s why so many fighters joined the lawsuit. Even people in the lawsuit like Rampage that questions the intentions of the people who started the lawsuit in the first place.
 
More than possible, but accepting this one is also a dumb move sir.
For the fighters yes, but that's of no care to their legal representatives. Once the W, and a guarantee of money is on the table to ensure their time spent on the case is seen as worth it they start advising you to take it.
 
For the fighters yes, but that's of no care to their legal representatives. Once the W, and a guarantee of money is on the table to ensure their time spent on the case is seen as worth it they start advising you to take it.
Then its time for new lawyers that know how to close a real deal sir.
To fight sharks, you must first become a shark.

Their lawyers are quite obviously guppies.
 
NBA players who held off-season jobs through the 1960's(probably the 70's too).
If i hear that NBA players have to have second jobs at this point.

mithun-chakrobarty-mithun-chakraborty.gif


The money is so big it might ruin the product.
 
Then its time for new lawyers that know how to close a real deal sir.
To fight sharks, you must first become a shark.

Their lawyers are quite obviously guppies.
I think that's just most lawyers lol. Same cut of people ad politicians basically
 
I think that's just most lawyers lol. Same cut of people ad politicians basically
The estimated # was like 2 billion, and these guys are taking 320 million?

Something seems pretty fucky there sir.
But I do agree with what you said, just money hungry lawyers or paid off lawyers working both sides.
 
The estimated # was like 2 billion, and these guys are taking 320 million?

Something seems pretty fucky there sir.
But I do agree with what you said, just money hungry lawyers or paid off lawyers working both sides.
Yep the ones taking these kinds of big cases are big firms. The bottom line is what matters to them to move up and become partners.
 
Yep the ones taking these kinds of big cases are big firms. The bottom line is what matters to them to move up and become partners.

Meanwhile the people who need the help get fucked in the ass, and have their proverbial dicks flapping in the wind..smh
 
Among the fighters writing letters of support was Spencer Fisher, who was declared permanently disabled and unable to work from the damage done in a career spent as a professional fighter including 17 fights over 12 years in the UFC.

“While fighting for the UFC, I suffered many significant injuries including broken hands, torn shoulder, torn retina, fused neck, bulging discs, a plastic buckle in my right eye, and many concussions,” Fisher wrote. “I had a right hip replacement in 2021 and am facing a left hip replacement in the near future. I have had two spinal taps that show the presence of the Tau protein which is a positive indicator of dementia. I struggle with problem solving and rationalization skills and get confused easily. I rely on my amazing wife Emily to function in daily living skills. I fear that during my career I have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) and am noticing symptoms common with TBI and CTE including depression, mood swings, and irritability. To date, no treatment for CTE has been found. I have been diagnosed permanently disabled by an independent neurologist. I also suffer bouts of vertigo. I experience memory loss and endure frequent headaches.

“This would truly be life-changing money for me and for other members of the class. These funds would ease the burden on my spouse Emily and allow me to obtain healthcare I need and assist my family in paying for basic life necessities. The sad reality is that funds years from now may be of no use to me. I desperately need these funds now.”

UFC Hall of Famer Wanderlei Silva, who spent six years with the promotion after making a name for himself in PRIDE FC in Japan, revealed that he believes he’s dealing with serious brain damage as a result of his fighting career.

With his health compromised, Silva is hoping that the financial relief provided by the lawsuit settlement will help him and his family.

“While fighting for the UFC, I suffered many significant injuries, including concussions,” Silva wrote. “I fear that during my career I have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) and am noticing symptoms common with TBI and CTE including depression, mood swings, and irritability…. I suffer from sleep apnea and have difficulty sleeping and breathing. That I can recall, I have had four surgeries on my nose, 1 on my face, 2 on my left knee, 1 on my right knee and 1 on my elbow.

“These funds would also allow me to obtain the healthcare I need and keep a roof over my head and food on my table. The sad reality is that funds years from now may be of no use to me. I can use and enjoy.”

Cung Le, who was one of the founding members of the antitrust lawsuit filed against the UFC in 2014, admitted that he’s nearing bankruptcy and he’s needed to rely on friends to help support him in recent years.

“Due to the strain of my current health limiting my everyday activity from working consistently, I’ve been relying on a friend who, through God’s provision, has generously sponsored my essential needs, including food and shelter, while I await the settlement of this case,” Le stated. “Without this support, I would likely need to file bankruptcy and apply for disability to manage my basic living and healthcare needs.”

Former interim UFC heavyweight champion Shane Carwin wrote in his letter of support that he’s been unable to maintain employment with his engineering degree due to health issues that continue to haunt him long after his fighting career was over.

“Despite having a degree in engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, I have been unable to maintain adequate focus to hold down an engineering job,” Carwin wrote. “I face serious challenges in meeting basic everyday expenses for food, shelter, and transportation and in basic life skills necessary to function.

“These funds would also allow me to obtain the healthcare I need and keep a roof over my head and food on my table. The sad reality is that funds years from now may be of no use to me. I desperately need these funds now.”

Additional fighters providing letters of support for the UFC antitrust lawsuit settlement include Nate Quarry, Ross Pearson, Joe Stevenson, Cat Zingano, Gray Maynard, Matt Brown, Nate Marquardt, Jon Fitch, Chris Leben, Sage Northcutt and many more.

As far as the financial compensation many of the fighters would receive, the brief filed by the plaintiffs laid out the benefits to this settlement, particularly with the increase in funds as part of this new agreement.

“The $375 million all cash recovery provides a swift and significant payment to the Class against the delay, costs, and risks of a trial and appeals. As discussed above, Plaintiffs had initially proposed to allocate 75% of the Prior Settlement to the Le Class (75% of $335 million is $251.25 million), and thus this Settlement would increase the amount going to the Le Class by $123.75 million. Plaintiffs subsequently proposed to allocate 90% of the Prior Settlement to the Le Class (90% of $335 million is $301.5 million), and in that light, this Settlement involves $73.5 million more for the Le Class.

“Under the Settlement, Le Class members would recover (on average), after all fees and costs are deducted, $250,000. Thirty-five Class members would net over $1 million; nearly 100 fighters would net over $500,000; more than 200 fighters would recover over $250,000; over 500 fighters would net in excess of $100,000; and nearly 800 would recover over $50,000. By any reasonable measure, the Settlement, if approved, would put “life changing” cash into the hands of the families of several hundred fighters now.”


When the judge previously issued his denial, he stated that he objected to the settlement because the agreed upon payout seemed low and that the fighters represented in the second lawsuit — covering athletes from 2017 to the present — could object to arbitration and class-action waiver clauses in existing contracts.

It's really hard to care for these dumb pieces of shit obviously trying to milk things.
A dumb guy like Spencer Fisher would be dead if he did skateboarding instead and nobody would have paid him a $ for it!
The rest pissed away a lifetime of wealth while men working hard labor die every week or get disabled in large numbers.
But these guys got hurt doing what they always wanted, getting paid for it instead of some badly hurt football hooligans I know.
But they do not complain! They just say that was some dumb shit, but I had fun. Now I have a fused neck.
 

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