News UFC Anti-Trust Lawsuit Expanded

[machidafan99]

It should be expanded to anyone that purchased a PPV or atteneded a PPV showing at a bar.

 

[Heisenboom]

Could you imagine the fighters bankrupting the ufc. The end of mma.

 

[avenue94]

Given what you know about this case which outcome do you think is most likely?

A) It goes to trial and UFC wins.

B) It goes to trial and the fighters win.

C) It gets settled

C by far. There's a decent chance WME tosses in the towel if they lose the appeal on class certification, and if it gets to trial and isn't going great, there's no way they risk losing. The damages aren't even the part that really threatens the UFC, it's the legal remedies the plaintiffs are asking would change the landscape of the sport.

The plaintiffs are asking for a 12 month contract limit with no matching clauses, exclusive negotiating periods or champion's clauses. So just imagine if Conor or champions could start a contract in January, fight midyear, sit out the rest, then be a free agent at the end of it. The UFC would probably have no choice but to start paying ball with fighters if they don't want them signing with other promotions or boxing or what not.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

The judge in the UFC's anti-trust lawsuit expanded the parameters of the class to include fighters up to the present. It was previously only Zuffa fighters from Dec. 2010-June 2017. It looks like Kajun Johnson and CB Dolloway filed a complaint that led to the change (both fighters qualified for the original class).

In practical terms, this means that the original class of 1,214 fighters of the class action lawsuit just increased by 500 UFC fighters. (I count 437 debuts from 2018-present.) It also might include all the fighters from the Contender's series, since those are technically Zuffa contracts, which is pretty ironic given that the Contender's Series was a way for the UFC to sign cheap talent to longer term contracts.

This is important for a couple reasons

-Bigger class means more damages. On the high end, the UFC was already facing nearly $5 billion in damages if they lost (anti-trust damages are automatically tripled). So if damages are proportional to class size, that means damages just increased 40-50 percent, meaning the high point for damages would be quickly approaching the valuation of the UFC. (the high point would obviously not be the final settlement size)

-Another 3 or 4 years of discovery, testimony, subpoenas, etc. and the potential for more embarrassing information to come to light. It also would mean more insight into UFC financials, but this is more just a bonus if you're curious.

-I'm no lawyer, but I imagine this also means the case will take even longer. So if we're lucky we might have a final ruling before 2030, if the UFC doesn't settle before.


Final note: A lot of people on sherdog might not realize this, but the UFC lawsuit is actually a pretty big deal in economics and the larger legal world. Monopsony cases are very rare, and if the fighters win, it would be a massive change in precedent that could affect litigation in other industries.

Ain’t shit coming out of this because it’s a privately brought case plus the US is a godforsaken competition law regime. I do competition law in Europe and even nowadays it’s insanely difficult to compete with the incredibly deep pockets of entities like WME.

It’s not Dana, it’s an entertainment giant who will litigate you to hell. And after a couple of years, the law firms who have funded this, will settle for say $5-25 million and they take ALL of that, under the terms of their representation agreements because they will be reimbursed for time billed and expenses. Quietly dealt with and sorted.

And the next generation of fighters will be fucked.

This sort of market abuse requires legislative level change even in Europe which has the most rigorous and complainant friendly legal regimes. In the US? Ha!

 

[avenue94]

Ain’t shit coming out of this because it’s a privately brought case plus the US is a godforsaken competition law regime. I do competition law in Europe and even nowadays it’s insanely difficult to compete with the incredibly deep pockets of entities like WME.

It’s not Dana, it’s an entertainment giant who will litigate you to hell. And after a couple of years, the law firms who have funded this, will settle for say $5-25 million and they take ALL of that, under the terms of their representation agreements because they will be reimbursed for time billed and expenses. Quietly dealt with and sorted.

And the next generation of fighters will be fucked.

This sort of market abuse requires legislative level change even in Europe which has the most rigorous and complainant friendly legal regimes. In the US? Ha!

Yeah, I can't really say you are being unreasonably pessimistic. That's how fucked the legal system is here that class action certification would be practically a landmark victory lol. The best reason I have to be hopeful is that if the case makes it to trial, it would be based off of wage share, which would be an actual massive shift in antitrust law.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

Yeah, I can't really say you are being unreasonably pessimistic. That's how fucked the legal system is here that class action certification would be practically a landmark victory lol. The best reason I have to be hopeful is that if the case makes it to trial, it would be based off of wage share, which would be an actual massive shift in antitrust law.

It’s a marathon between the VC funded law firms vs WME pockets. The firms working against the UFC have dozens of other law suits chugging away and work on probability/cost/result just like they’re playing professional poker.

At some point somebody is going to cut their losses.

WME is spending a shit load of money on this against an assymetrical attack because of the UFC takes a loss, they’re fucked and lost billions. So they need to spend the money.

On the other side, lawyers working on the class action need to eat so they’re getting money from an investor or from the law firm’s war fund (that’s an old model).

Forget every single Hollywood film about lawyers and litigation. It’s a grinding, expensive and exhausting process which isn’t won by pulling out Sanders vs Williams 1879 which you found in a library. Especially in competition law which is probably the most difficult and labor intensive of all types of legal work because the money involved makes everything else seem ridiculous.

 

[Dan Torrance]

so lawyers are going to buy vacation homes eh?

once again the fighters are pawns for some larger entity to make money off of them. Except now it's the blood sucking lawyers.

 

[avenue94]

Forget every single Hollywood film about lawyers and litigation. It’s a grinding, expensive and exhausting process which isn’t won by pulling out Sanders vs Williams 1879 which you found in a library. Especially in competition law which is probably the most difficult and labor intensive of all types of legal work because the money involved makes everything else seem ridiculous.

Like I said, I don't envision a story book ending here, just maybe an incremental change or win. Although hilarious you are describing the process as grinding and exhausting given Jon Fitch is one of the named plaintiffs lol.

so lawyers are going to buy vacation homes eh?

once again the fighters are pawns for some larger entity to make money off of them. Except now it's the blood sucking lawyers.

Why do you think there are so many fucked up and bleak movies about boxers. Combat sports always have been and always will be prone to exploitation lol.