Numerous UFC fans and personalities have often criticized the promotion’s alleged low fighter payouts. But in 2014, several former UFC fighters like Brandon Vera, Jon Fitch, Cung Le, and others formed a union and decided to take a stance against the UFC’s malpractices to gain market control. By 2016, their group had grown to about 1200 UFC fighters when they decided to file an Antitrust Lawsuit against the UFC’s shady tactics. It’s pertinent to note that ‘Dana White and Co’s’ fighter payout was also one of the prime points inside the union’s list of complaints.
A well-known Canadian combat sports regulatory lawyer named Eric Magraken revealed that a federal court in the US certified the lawsuit as a Class Act back in August this year. But the noted combat sports journalist, John S. Nash’s ‘X’ update, revealed a few exhibits that the Zuffa authorities presented requesting a renewed motion for summary judgment.
The reputed MMA coverage house, ‘Bloody Elbow’ also put out a series of updates on their ‘X’ account about one of those exhibits. One of them mentioned that the UFC had paid its owners an amount of $1.16B from 2005 to 2014, while more than $250M went towards the fighters. ‘Bloody Elbow’s’ latest tweet read:
“Between 2005-2014 the UFC paid $1.16 billion in dividends to the owners
-Fertittas
-Dana White
-Flash Entertainment (Start 2010)”
However, the comments section of the post displayed a rather surprising scenario. Despite a large chunk of fans often raising their voices against the UFC’s meager fighter payouts, most netizens supported Zuffa’s act of paying almost a quarter of their total revenues to the fighters.
One fan said, “Dude the fighters got a quarter that’s amazing. Good for the ufc for paying the fighters. I don’t get a quarter at my job.”
Another one wrote, “As they should fill their pockets they created this powerhouse of a company. They not giving it away. The fighters don’t make UFC not how that shyt works. UFC is like the military they will always have soldiers coming and going. UFC grinded a long way to get it’s worth.”
One of them presented a slightly different opinion as he expressed, “Not surprised, but thats some slap in the face to the fighters who leave it all out there.”
But one more fan stood strictly in Zuffa’s favor. He wrote, “Deserved, they created the best sport in the world”
But even if the fans view as Zuffa’s fighter payouts as enough, the verdict of the court may go against ‘Dana White and Co’. But do you know what a loss in this case will mean for the UFC?
A defeat in this case will subject the UFC and Dana White to an unimaginable financial loss
A report by ‘Essentially Sports’ will provide a lot of clarity to the fans about what a defeat in this case would mean for the UFC authorities. It revealed that the plaintiffs (UFC fighters’ union) are seeking for an amount ranging from $811M to $1.6B in damages. But a keener look at the legal system will reveal, that the UFC authorities may be subjected to much higher losses as a penalty.
The report also revealed that in case of such antitrust lawsuits, the court has the power to triple the amount claimed by the plaintiffs in damages and award it to them. A simple calculation will reveal that the UFC may have to an bear insane loss of $4.8B at a maximum due to this defeat.
Now, after knowing about all of this, some of the fans would likely side with the UFC in the matter.
