In a landmark decision for the world of mixed martial arts, a court has certified fighters' class-action lawsuit against the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), alleging market dominance abuses and suppressed fighter earnings. This could reshape the industry's future landscape, according to a release from the Joseph Saveri law firm.
“UFC’s illegal acquisition and application of monopoly power to suppress the wages of Professional MMA fighters is inexcusable,” Saveri, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in the release. “Because other promoters are excluded from top arenas, TV, pay-per-view and other national media outlets, they simply cannot compete, and are either put out of business or relegated to second-tier status as a de facto farm system.”
The lawsuit alleges UFC abused its overwhelming market dominance to unfairly control fighter compensation. Richard F. Boulware granted the plaintiffs' class certification Aug. 9, according to court documents.
“UFC pays its fighters a mere fraction of what athletes make in similar sports such as boxing,” Saveri added, according to the release. “Fighters who want to establish a national reputation have no choice but to sign with UFC, but then they are left with no opportunity to profit from their success.”
The suit, rooted in claims from 2020, accuses UFC of concocting a scheme to sideline competing MMA promoters. Allegedly, UFC denied these rivals the necessary resources crucial to conducting successful MMA events. This purportedly included restricting UFC fighters from participating in bouts hosted by rival promoters both during and after their UFC contracts, effectively controlling their careers and seizing rights to their personal branding.
The crux of the lawsuit claims, "UFC Fighters receive only a fraction of what they would in a competitive market." This is deemed a breach of the Sherman Act's Section 2, the suit noted.
Additional layers to the dispute include assertions that UFC, with its purported monopoly, has unjustly suppressed fighters' wages and inappropriately appropriated their public personas. Antitrust complaint data highlights UFC's overwhelming market share, capturing a staggering 90% of revenues from elite live professional MMA events, the suit reported.
Saveri said exclusionary practices have marginalized rival promoters, rendering them unable to compete on equal footing, relegating many to secondary roles or pushing them out of business entirely, the release reported.
This pending lawsuit has the potential to drastically alter the MMA world's landscape. As the legal proceedings gather steam, MMA enthusiasts, fighters and promoters globally will be closely monitoring, waiting to see the reverberations this case might have on the sport's future, Bloody Elbow reported.
