News Gegard Mousasi has sued PFL for breach of contract, and a claim for relief for Monopsonization. Getting 750K per bout, along with 50-200K finish bonus

[Lord Pyjamas]

Has anyone complained about the spelling of Monopsonization or am I that douche bag again?

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Mousasi is a real state investor... dude wants to milk whatever is left of his name and career to be even richer after.

BTW.. 750K per fight in Bellator? LMFAO... Over the hill Moose conned Bellator

Funny how when fighters get railroaded into shitty contracts we don’t hear “the [UFC] conned them” it’s always “they knew what they were signing up for!” even though the promotion had all the leverage.

Now when the flip side happens and the fighter gets a big payday even though the promotion still had all the leverage but needed them so paid a high price the fighter “conned the promotion” - didn’t they know what they were doing when they offered the contract? lol.

Fact of the matter is they have him locked into a deal but won’t give him fights or even offer a buy out, instead playing corporate lawyer games to obfuscate their own financial incompetence in offering the deal in the first place.

I hope the Moose gets paid, even though he is old and semi-washed he’s a former great fighter that put on a lot of quality fights for us.

A deal is a deal - pay that man his money!

 

[Hassan Mouzine]

Not exactly.
The issue here is Bellator signing new and unreasonnably expensive contracts just before selling to PFL. Contracts they would not have signed if they were conducting business as usual.
I don't know the details, but PFL could claim to have been defrauded by Coker and Mousasi.

Obviously if everything has been done legally, PFL should honor it.

what kind of weird reasoning is this?

when you buy another company and that company has agreements in place........you buy those agreements as well. PFL knew what contracts were in place when they signed the agreement. Dont act as if Coker and Mousasi somehow conned PFL. PFL reviewed everything thay the agreement entitled to....including it's obligations of contracts with fighters.

it really sounds stupid what you are saying. I dont know all the ins and outs but what you are saying doesnt make sense

 

[SuspectChin]

Mousasi is a real state investor... dude wants to milk whatever is left of his name and career to be even richer after.

BTW.. 750K per fight in Bellator? LMFAO... Over the hill Moose conned Bellator

PFL pocketed 750K to Pettis coming off a submission loss to Stevie Ray and he way more washed up (at the time) than Mousasi ever has been.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Has anyone complained about the spelling of Monopsonization or am I that douche bag again?

I think the word is supposed to be monopsony.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Ask Dana if he doesn't want to make money, plus where is the whole "He signed the contract, it's his own fault" crowd now?

i don't get why that argument is supposed to work here? this is a problem between Bellator and PFL not honoring contracts. UFC's problem is creating monopolizing contracts that they DO honor, that's how they keep these dudes in check. it's not really the same.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Funny how when fighters get railroaded into shitty contracts we don’t hear “the [UFC] conned them” it’s always “they knew what they were signing up for!” even though the promotion had all the leverage.

Now when the flip side happens and the fighter gets a big payday even though the promotion still had all the leverage but needed them so paid a high price the fighter “conned the promotion” - didn’t they know what they were doing when they offered the contract? lol.

Fact of the matter is they have him locked into a deal but won’t give him fights or even offer a buy out, instead playing corporate lawyer games to obfuscate their own financial incompetence in offering the deal in the first place.

I hope the Moose gets paid, even though he is old and semi-washed he’s a former great fighter that put on a lot of quality fights for us.

A deal is a deal - pay that man his money!

Oh.. I'm all for Mousasi getting his money. I'm a big fan and PFL should act differently if they want to compete with the UFC down the line. This is not a good look on them.

PFL pocketed 750K to Pettis coming off a submission loss to Stevie Ray and he way more washed up (at the time) than Mousasi ever has been.

Pettis also got a few more paydays boxing RJJr and in karate combat. Dude has been milking his fame while being completely washed up for years.

 

[CC27]

This is why when you see reported payouts even from UFC too its not always telling the real story. commission reports he's getting 150k but he's getting another 600k on the side plus bonuses etc.

 

[rjmbrd]

Don't go to bat for PFL dude. Literally everything Donn Davis said they would do when they bought Bellator for the fighters turned out to be a lie.

Do you not realize the contract precedes PFL purchasing Bellator?

On his way out the door, after publicly saying he was unlikely to resign Mousasi, Scott Coker gives him a 750k/fight contract.

He's 40 years old, on a two fight losing streak and virtually irrelevant in the modern sport. It may very well be Coker defrauded or acted in bad faith with regards to this deal. We have to see what comes of discovery in the lawsuit.

Only a moron thinks that contract makes sense for anybody.

 

[rjmbrd]

This is why when you see reported payouts even from UFC too its not always telling the real story. commission reports he's getting 150k but he's getting another 600k on the side plus bonuses etc.

Its public record from both discovery in the class action and financial filings that the UFC is paying ~15% of revenue to fighters.

That includes everything - purse, bonus, PPV share, insurance, even the performance institute. So you are completely clear, the promoter (UFC) is keeping 85% of the cash coming in from fight cards. That is highway robbery.

 

[spinup]

what kind of weird reasoning is this?

when you buy another company and that company has agreements in place........you buy those agreements as well. PFL knew what contracts were in place when they signed the agreement. Dont act as if Coker and Mousasi somehow conned PFL. PFL reviewed everything thay the agreement entitled to....including it's obligations of contracts with fighters.

it really sounds stupid what you are saying. I dont know all the ins and outs but what you are saying doesnt make sense

You're assuming PFL reviewed the contracts of each and every fighter on Bellator's roster.
Even if they did, nothing stopped Coker to make sneaky changes at any time before the sale, and that is precisely what is alleged here.

Neither of us know the details, so it's all speculations. The court will decide ultimately.

 

[acannxr]

Not exactly.
The issue here is Bellator signing new and unreasonnably expensive contracts just before selling to PFL. Contracts they would not have signed if they were conducting business as usual.
I don't know the details, but PFL could claim to have been defrauded by Coker and Mousasi.

Obviously if everything has been done legally, PFL should honor it.

See below:

Except when PFL was buying Bellator, they knew exactly what they were getting in terms of contracts.

And it's not like Mousasi got this contract AFTER the sale of Bellator.

Case and point: Rampage got a massive PPV deal when he signed with WFA only because WFA was never going to do a PPV, but when the UFC bought the company and Rampage's contract the latter had to honor that PPV deal (and it's also why after he became champion they put his first title defense against Hendo on free TV).

(Timestamped)

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Do you not realize the contract precedes PFL purchasing Bellator?

On his way out the door, after publicly saying he was unlikely to resign Mousasi, Scott Coker gives him a 750k/fight contract.

He's 40 years old, on a two fight losing streak and virtually irrelevant in the modern sport. It may very well be Coker defrauded or acted in bad faith with regards to this deal. We have to see what comes of discovery in the lawsuit.

Only a moron thinks that contract makes sense for anybody.

I'm just saying Davis is dishonest in general.

 

[Your Salad]

All these poor promoters getting conned by the fighters.
When will it ever stop?

 

[scytheavatar]

You are a low quality spam poster spending your life on here, so it is not surprising to see you post such a dogshit hot take.

The PFL adds competition, and competition means fighters get more opportunity and income. Basic economic principles. If you respect fighters you want more orgs.

re: lawsuit, looks like Scott Coker doubled Mousasi's contract value just before selling to PFL. This can be construed as defrauding PFL and doing something in bad faith. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together understands Mousasi cannot bring a value of 750k per fight at this stage of his career.

The lawsuit will have to play out to see if Bellator did something shady, but that seems possible. There is no reason to blame PFL on its face right now.

The problem here is that the PFL is the best thing to happen to the UFC. I have been saying for a while, smaller promotions with less talent than Bellator have been putting up better shows. And guess what? PFL has NOT been one of those promotions.

If you respect fighters you will want the PFL to close down tomorrow so that the UFC can have real competition.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Oh.. I'm all for Mousasi getting his money. I'm a big fan and PFL should act differently if they want to compete with the UFC down the line. This is not a good look on them.


Pettis also got a few more paydays boxing RJJr and in karate combat. Dude has been milking his fame while being completely washed up for years.

I can't believe that even in karate kombat, Pettis managed to rob Bendo again

re: lawsuit, looks like Scott Coker doubled Mousasi's contract value just before selling to PFL. This can be construed as defrauding PFL and doing something in bad faith. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together understands Mousasi cannot bring a value of 750k per fight at this stage of his career.

The lawsuit will have to play out to see if Bellator did something shady, but that seems possible. There is no reason to blame PFL on its face right now.

While I appreciate anyone shitting on Dreyga, a rare resident of my mute list, and agree that Moose isn't worth 750k a fight currently, as far as I'm aware, each individual contract should have been reviewed by PFL legal team before signing off on the buyout. However, contract law is fucked and I have no experience in mega buyouts of sports rosters, so my knowledge is limited.
It sounds like a due diligence issue on PFL's part, and proving this as fraudulent sounds like a tough sell to a judge or jury.

Moose has a solid case for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The unjust enrichment could work against the bellator guys as he was a known name that added value to the merger. PFL has obviously put him on ice, and it isn't a far stretch to say it's because they don't want to pay him. Moose has been vocally bitching about not getting fights for years now it seems.

The "monopsonization" allegation is to get it attention since the UFC is going through a similar lawsuit and Lina Khan has been the only employee in the "Biden" admin that deserves to keep her job, as she's been slamming antitrusts left and right.

I hope Moose gets paid, PFL can spend some of their Saudi money on him. Just because Davis, Murray and co aren't pink bald goofs loudly blowing money in casinos doesn't mean they aren't fucking the fighters any less.

See below:

And it's not like Mousasi got this contract AFTER the sale of Bellator.

Case and point: Rampage got a massive PPV deal when he signed with WFA only because WFA was never going to do a PPV, but when the UFC bought the company and Rampage's contract the latter had to honor that PPV deal (and it's also why after he became champion they put his first title defense against Hendo on free TV).

(Timestamped)

Rampage's PPV contract is what immediately came to mind, which is why we saw his first title defense on free tv.
He confirmed he made over $5 million for the Chuck fight, which is nuts thinking that according to Dana, over Rampage's career he made $15 million, a number Rampage never disputed, but it would mean that a damn third or more of it came from that one KO of Chuck, with the rest spread over 11 more fights in the UFC.

 

[TorontoTO]

This is why when you see reported payouts even from UFC too its not always telling the real story. commission reports he's getting 150k but he's getting another 600k on the side plus bonuses etc.

Bellator has always done these side deals, people here unironically thought Nemkov was getting 80K for a title bout

 

[skylolow]

Funny how when fighters get railroaded into shitty contracts we don’t hear “the [UFC] conned them” it’s always “they knew what they were signing up for!” even though the promotion had all the leverage.

Now when the flip side happens and the fighter gets a big payday even though the promotion still had all the leverage but needed them so paid a high price the fighter “conned the promotion” - didn’t they know what they were doing when they offered the contract? lol.

Fact of the matter is they have him locked into a deal but won’t give him fights or even offer a buy out, instead playing corporate lawyer games to obfuscate their own financial incompetence in offering the deal in the first place.

I hope the Moose gets paid, even though he is old and semi-washed he’s a former great fighter that put on a lot of quality fights for us.

A deal is a deal - pay that man his money!

I think the issue is the circumstances surrounding how Mousasi got that deal.

My understanding is Coker was not going to resign Mousasi at that pay. They had conversation and basically couldn't come to an agreement. Once PFL deal was basically eminent Coker came back to Mousasi and basically gave him what he was looking for, fully knowing it wasn't going to be his problem. My understanding this occurred at basically D-Day for Bellator/Viacom.

Now should PFL have looked over every fighter contract with a fine tooth comb, sure in a perfect world. Logic would say maybe any deal over 100K a fight they really should've looked at closely. But I'm not sure legally they could just say we'll take this guy, but not that guy. It is quite apparent after the buy out they contacted many fighters and some went there separate ways and others resigned new deals. In Mousasi's situation PFL did reach out to his team and tired to renegotiate the contract it didn't work out and after some public mud slinging both parties split. Now if Gegard would've found another org that would pay him anywhere close to what Coker signed him to in the 11th hour we probably won't have this lawsuit. Since the market said otherwise and probably much less he decided to sue.

I'm not sure he can win this case. Many times these contracts have easy out clauses for the orgs., fair or not it is in there. PFL exercised that right.

 

[rjmbrd]

The problem here is that the PFL is the best thing to happen to the UFC. I have been saying for a while, smaller promotions with less talent than Bellator have been putting up better shows. And guess what? PFL has NOT been one of those promotions.

If you respect fighters you will want the PFL to close down tomorrow so that the UFC can have real competition.

This is pants on head backwards to basic economic principles.

You want more orgs to be competing for fighter contracts. You want new promotions to spin up that compete with PFL and the UFC.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

I think the issue is the circumstances surrounding how Mousasi got that deal.

My understanding is Coker was not going to resign Mousasi at that pay. They had conversation and basically couldn't come to an agreement. Once PFL deal was basically eminent Coker came back to Mousasi and basically gave him what he was looking for, fully knowing it wasn't going to be his problem. My understanding this occurred at basically D-Day for Bellator/Viacom.

Now should PFL have looked over every fighter contract with a fine tooth comb, sure in a perfect world. Logic would say maybe any deal over 100K a fight they really should've looked at closely. But I'm not sure legally they could just say we'll take this guy, but not that guy. It is quite apparent after the buy out they contacted many fighters and some went there separate ways and others resigned new deals. In Mousasi's situation PFL did reach out to his team and tired to renegotiate the contract it didn't work out and after some public mud slinging both parties split. Now if Gegard would've found another org that would pay him anywhere close to what Coker signed him to in the 11th hour we probably won't have this lawsuit. Since the market said otherwise and probably much less he decided to sue.

I'm not sure he can win this case. Many times these contracts have easy out clauses for the orgs., fair or not it is in there. PFL exercised that right.

However he got the deal, he did get the deal yeah?

Why should the circumstances matter to Moose when he has a signed contract that is supposed to guarantee him fights on a regular basis at a set pay? That's shit the PFL should've figured out before they bought Bellator, instead of log-jamming the fighters they felt were over-paid in a Beetlejuice-style waiting room to wait for fights they are never going to get until they age out and are forced to retire.



According to Moose they've been ignoring/ghosting him:



Gegard Mousasi files lawsuit against Bellator/PFL, seeking over $15 million in damages

FROM THE ARTICLE:

“The problem is we cannot get ahold of them,” Mousasi said at the time. “They refuse to answer us back. I’ve been training, I’ve been ready. But like I said, they don’t promote me, or people think I’m retired actually. People don’t even know. After my fight, Fabian Edwards fought twice, and since then, they don’t even talk to us. I know I have a contract with them. I know they are obligated to give me those fights. I’m just waiting and I don’t know. Just waiting, what can I do?

“I talked to Mike Kogan, he suggested, ‘Well, you make too much money.’ He said, ‘I would get back to you after I talk to them because they cannot let you hang like this.’ I haven’t heard from him either.”

If anything he can make them bleed legal fees at length while his attorneys work not he case based on getting a percentage of the money he gets from the lawsuit or a possible buy-out, so he can bleed them for hundreds of thousands without them even paying him to fight.

If they weren't complete scumbags they would at minimum offer him a buy-out so he got some compensation for them failing to honor the contractual obligation they agreed to.