UFC Will Confront Fighter Damages of Up to $1.6 Billion at Trial

Mixed martial artists are gearing up to face the Ultimate Fighting Championship at a trial in April, seeking up to $1.6 billion in damages over allegedly anti-competitive contracts.

The fighters, who won class status last year, anticipate presenting evidence at the high-stakes trial that the Las Vegas-based fighting powerhouse caused them numerous forms of harm. They say it degraded the quality of mixed-martial artist events, trapping them in a cycle of successive contracts, and paying the athletes less than they would have received in a competitive market, according to a trial brief submitted Thursday in US District Court for the District of Nevada.

At the trial starting April 15, the plaintiffs aim to prove that UFC violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which prohibits attempts to monopolize, and demonstrate they are entitled damages in the amount “of at least $894 million and as much as $1.6 billion."The case is among a string of antitrust cases brought on behalf of athletes who are fighting sports organizations for better pay.

UFC also submitted its trial brief Thursday, arguing plaintiffs have no evidence of their alleged injuries and that UFC’s multi-bout contracts didn’t deprive competitors of a substantial share of MMA athletes. UFC said it looks forward to trying the case before a Las Vegas jury and demonstrating that its efforts to grow the MMA industry are procompetitive.

“Courts should not act as central planners of our economy or permit employees who willingly negotiated and signed contracts with the assistance of managers, agents, and lawyers, to misuse the antitrust laws to pursue a windfall beyond the terms of their contracts,” UFC stated in its brief.

The plaintiffs are represented by law firms including Berger Montague PC. UFC is represented by law firms including Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

The case is Le vs. Zuffa, D. Nev., No. 2:15-cv-01045, 2/22/24.