The UFC antitrust lawsuit is set to go to trial on April 15, with several prominent fighters and managers, including ex-UFC champions Michael Bisping and Miesha Tate, set to testify on behalf of the promotion.
The UFC antitrust lawsuit is inching closer to its trial date on April 15. A bunch of big-name fighters and managers are set to testify in favor of the promotion in court.
On Thursday, a brief was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. It revealed several names the UFC has put forward as witnesses for the upcoming trial. This case has been inching along since it was first filed back in 2014.
The witness list? It’s got some heavy hitters. We’re talking two ex-UFC champions and three past title challengers, all testifying for the UFC.
Bloody Elbow was the first to spill the beans on the brief.
Who’s on the list, you ask? Well, we’ve got ex-UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping and former women’s bantamweight champ Miesha Tate. Also on the list are Michael Chandler, Donald Cerrone, and Chael Sonnen.
But it’s not just fighters. The UFC’s also got a few managers ready to testify. Ali Abdelaziz, who runs Dominance MMA and reps UFC lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, is one of them. Jason House, head of Iridium Sports Agency, is another. His agency reps ex-flyweight champ Brandon Moreno.
Other managers on the list include Josh Jones, who works with fighters like Cerrone and Tate, and Dan Lambert, owner and operator of American Top Team in Florida. Ed Soares, who used to manage fighters like Anderson Silva and Glover Teixeira, is also set to testify.
But wait, there’s more. Testimony will also come from ex-Bellator president Scott Coker, Invicta FC founder Shannon Knapp, former IFL founder Kurt Otto, and boxing promoter Lou DiBella, among others.
Current or former UFC employees who might be called to testify? That list includes UFC CEO Dana White, matchmakers Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby, and former head matchmaker Joe Silva. Marc Ratner and UFC COO Lawrence Epstein could also be called.
At the heart of this lawsuit, fighters like Cung Le, Nate Quarry, Jon Fitch, Brandon Vera, and others accuse the UFC of engaging in a scheme to maintain monopsony power in the market for elite professional MMA fighter services. They allege the UFC used acquisitions, exclusive contracts, and coercion to achieve this.
The UFC’s defense? They claim the lawsuit is misguided and is “no antitrust case at all, but an attack on success.”
Because the case was made a class action lawsuit, any fighter competing in the UFC between Dec. 16, 2010 to June 30, 2017 could be eligible for compensation if the plaintiffs win or a settlement agreement is reached. Interestingly, none of the eligible fighters, including witnesses like Bisping and Sonnen, opted out of the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs? They’re seeking damages between a whopping $894 million and $1.6 billion. Yikes.